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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22768150">Damaged At Best</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/butimbroken/pseuds/butimbroken'>butimbroken</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:33:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>26,160</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22768150</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/butimbroken/pseuds/butimbroken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy/Angel. AU. Angel moves across the country to start a new life when his old one falls apart. Mature Themes. COMPLETE.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Angel/Buffy Summers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Angel was starting to feel just a bit nervous as they got closer. He checked his phone again and sent a quick text message to his aunt saying he was about five minutes away now. It seemed as if it had stopped sprinkling outside just long enough for him to dry off before it started back up again. It was dark by now but he sighed and looked out the window as they passed by a couple of businesses and a fair number of houses.</p><p>The driver of the taxi double checked the address before pulling into the driveway, the tires made a soft crunching sound of the gravel as it turned in. The front door of the small house opened just as they pulled in and he spotted Jenny hovering in the doorway as he thanked the driver and paid for the ride. "Do you need help with your bags?"</p><p>Angel shook his head. "Nah, I'll be alright," he replied. There wasn't much he brought with him. "Thank you though." He grabbed everything up and wished the man a safe rest of his evening before climbing out into the night air, a few raindrops hitting him in the process. He waved once more to the driver as he passed the front of the car and made the quick walk up to the house, bending into Jenny's tight hug as he reached her. "Hey, Jen," he greeted softly.</p><p>Jenny squeezed him tighter for a brief moment before backing up. "Alright, let's get you inside," she offered. Angel followed her through the front door and placed his bags down in a corner out of the way before following her toward the kitchen, his eyes taking in the inviting home as he did. "Rupert was just finishing up dinner," she told him as they came around the corner.</p><p>Angel nodded as the older man turned around. "Hello again, Rupert," he greeted. He had only met Rupert Giles in person twice but they did keep in touch in other ways. Angel had found he'd always liked the Brit and thought he was a good match for Jenny.</p><p>"Angel, I do hope you are hungry. I didn't know what exactly you might like so I may have gone a little overboard."</p><p>Angel put his hands in his pants pockets. "I'm starving," he admitted. "And I am far from picky so it's all fantastic I'm sure. Thank you. And I do mean that for everything," he added softly. Angel cleared his throat. "I am sorry for even asking-"</p><p>Jenny quickly shook her head and put her hand gently on his arm. "We are more than happy to have you," she told him. "And we want you here for as long as you need and want to be here."</p><p>The two of them shared a long look then Angel just hugged her again quickly before letting that sit for now. Instead, he asked if there was anything he could do help with the meal and got a few easy jobs from the two with finishing setting the table up. "I like the house," he said as they all sat down and he got a better looked of it all.</p><p>Jenny smiled, handing his drink to him before sitting herself. "I'll give you a tour later if you want. It's nothing fancy but we've made it quite the home since we moved in."</p><p>With that, the conversation came easier. He asked about the house, they asked him about how the flight and cab ride over was, if the house was hard to find... They all avoided the elephant in the room for now.</p><p>After dinner, he insisted on helping clean up before Jenny showed him around. After getting the quick tour they all sat around for a bit longer and talked before Jenny asked if he wanted to go see the apartment they'd offered to him. He got his bags and bid Rupert goodnight before following her back through the kitchen and dining room and out the back door. The mother-in-law style apartment they had was mere feet away from the main house. Jenny unlocked the large red door and they stepped inside as she explained which keys went to where- the apartment, main house, garage... "I apologize that there's not a lot out here-" she started.</p><p>"No, no," he quickly cut her off. "It's perfect. I promise."</p><p>"Whenever you are up for it we can go get you whatever you need, okay? A couch, chairs... whatever you want to add. And we can go grocery shopping as well. I did throw a few things into the fridge there but there's not a whole lot right now. There's some bread and coffee and a few things in the cabinets as well so please, please feel free to come over to us anytime that you want. Make yourself at home."</p><p>"You didn't have to do any of that, Jen. I cannot possibly thank you and Rupert enough for any of this," he told her, his chest stating to feel a little tight.</p><p>"You are my family, Angel. I love you. And I would do anything for you that I can."</p><p>Angel let out a shaky breath. "I promise I will pay you and Rupert back. For everything. The planet ticket, letting me rent this, the food..."</p><p>Jenny shook her head and took a step closer to hug him once again. "Never," she said softly. "You are our guest, you are our family. We want you here and worrying over any of that is the last thing either of us want. You focus on you, on what you need. And we will help you any way that we can." Jenny showed him around the small loft, she checked to make sure the heating and cooling unit worked, the warm water turned on for him, she made him climb up the ladder to the bed area to make sure he would fit. "Is that all you have?" she asked gently when he came back down, looking back at the bags he had placed inside the closet.</p><p>Angel looked over at them as well. "Mostly. I shipped a couple of boxes out before I came... just some stuff that I knew I wouldn't need right away. I'm hoping at some point I can get some of my shit back, though. But I guess we will have to see how that all goes."</p><p>Jenny was quiet for a moment, then, "H-have you talked to Darla at all since..." she trailed off.</p><p>He swallowed hard at the first mention of his estranged wife. "Not directly, no. Everything has been through third parties so far."</p><p>"Maybe it's better that way though?" Jenny offered.</p><p>Angel nodded slightly. He couldn't imagine any conversation with Darla ever going well again. His stomach sank a little as some of those not-so-distant memories started to flood back into his mind. He replayed the memory of him returning from work that evening and how confused he was finding a handful of his things just sitting out on the porch. He remembered trying to get in the house only to find the locks changed and Darla not answering, him trying to call her and anyone he could think of trying to understand what in the hell was happening. He replayed the shocking phone call between him and the person he thought had been his best friend explaining that Darla had decided their marriage was over, she wanted him gone, how the two of them had apparently decided they would now be in a relationship. Angel replayed the memories of being served divorce papers and restraining order papers as well after he and Lindsey had their confrontation about it all. He replayed the moment he found out that Darla had cleaned out all of their bank account and the hits one after another he got from her trying to just sink him into the ground.</p><p>This had certainly been the lowest of times.</p><p>"Is there anything I could do?"</p><p>Angel blinked, pushing those thoughts back away and let out a sigh. "Jen, you have done more than enough," he assured her. "And words can not express how much I appreciate all of it. For now, really I just think I want to take a shower, sleep for the longest amount of time as I possibly can, and then... and then I just need to start figuring out what in the hell I'm going to do now."</p><p>"I'm just so sorry you're going through this."</p><p>"Me, too. It'll be okay... eventually," he said, though not with much conviction.</p><p>Jenny gave a sad smile. "Your mom never did like her."</p><p>That made Angel snicker. "Isn't that the truth? Hell, she'd be having a field day with this shit. I can hear the 'I told you so's' haunting me already."</p><p>Jenny stayed just a few more minutes and then it was just him alone in the apartment. He let out a huge sigh and walked around the small space again. It was nearly empty in here... there was the heating/air unit in the wall near the front door, a coat rack, a ceiling fan and light fixture, and a long space of emptiness to serve as a little living room area. In far corner of it there was a small built-in kitchen area... it was really just a counter with a sink, a few cabinets above it, a shelf with a small microwave. There was curtain and underneath the counter had a little shelf with a package of paper plates and plastic silverware, a few cups, a coffee maker. Angel briefly looked through the three cabinets above to find a few random items inside then closed it back up. On the other side along the other wall was a small refrigerator that he peeked inside as well.</p><p>On the other side of the fridge was a decent sized walk-in closet. It had a few built in shelves and racks, a few random hangers already in there. The small space between the closet and bathroom had the ladder leading up to the bed and another light fixture hanging down above it. He was sure he'd bump his head on it many times in the near future. The bedroom area was the smallest space, it had a mattress on the flooring and there wasn't much space around it for anything else. He barely fit but he'd make it work. Jenny had told him they'd bought the mattress and bedding set just for him and he was sure they'd had a hell of a time getting it up there and ready.</p><p>Angel climbed halfway up and plugged his phone into the wall to let it charge then climbed back down and headed to the bathroom. It had the only other door in the apartment and was a decent size. He saw his reflection in the mirror and sighed, he looked as drained as he felt. The bathroom had a large counter where the sink was, Jenny had gotten him a handful of different items with various types of shampoos, soaps and body washes along with some other items lined up on the shelf below it. He made quick work of getting a few things put around the room. There were new towels and wash cloths in the corner cabinets and two unopened shower curtains to choose from. He got that set up on the large bathtub before undressing and getting into the shower.</p><p>After changing into some clean clothes, Angel put a few of the things he'd brought with away around the apartment then climbed back up to the bed. He wrote out a quick list of some things he'd like to get on his phone before pushing the extra pillow up against the small window up there to hopefully block out the morning sun until he got a curtain fixture then laid down. For the first time since this whole mess started, Angel didn't take forever and a day to be able to drift off to sleep...</p><p>Angel still wasn't sure if just packing up and coming out here was the right choice to make but he knew he had to do something. A fresh start right now sounded as good as anything else.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>A little over a week had passed and Angel was still doing his best to adjust to the major shifts his life had taken recently. Between what money he was actually able to get his hands on before Darla got to it and family helping him out he had gotten a lawyer before even coming out here and they were doing their best to deal with the situation... now mostly over the phone but he knew he'd travel back as needed. He couldn't wait until the shit was over and done with but he already knew it wouldn't be as easy as he hoped. She was out to bleed him dry of everything and make this as messy as she possibly could and it only made him more spiteful.</p><p>He knew their marriage hadn't been perfect and a number of times they'd struggled to even stay together but how she pulled this over him? He'd had never imagined this coming.</p><p>He hated it.</p><p>He had wasted so much time replaying the days... the weeks... months leading up to the day he came home and everything went to hell but he could never remember anything out of sorts that should have raised a red flag. Same with her and Lindsey, that shocked the hell out of him just the same. All of it made him feel incredibly stupid right now.</p><p>His Aunt Jenny had been a godsend... even before he had moved out, he had no idea how he'd ever be able to repay her and her husband for everything. The money he'd eventually get back to them but how in the world to otherwise make up for it all... he'd just have to figure out as he went. Since his arrival they had made sure he was comfortable, fed, had anything he needed. They let him use either of their vehicles whenever he needed, gotten him some more clothes and another couple pairs of shoes, he'd added a handful of things to the apartment, Jenny had gotten him a laptop to use... which he mostly used to search for jobs. He'd only gone to one interview so far but he had only started sending out applications so he hoped it wouldn't take long to find something.</p><p>The apartment now had a small couch and matching ottoman, an end table beside it, blinds on the three windows. Jenny had gotten him a cube shelf but it was still even in the box in the corner... along with a tool set he'd picked up. There was more food in the house though he still ate at least once a day next door, he'd gotten a stand alone single burner and a small griddle for the apartment, a single pot and pan, a single set of plates and bowls, a set of silverware... his clothes were hung and he he got some plastic storage bins to use as needed... two laundry hampers and just a few other odds and ends. He'd also gotten his boxes in the mail but there wasn't anything overly interesting in them either.</p><p>It was a start. Jenny wanted him to feel at home and he was trying... decorating the place up wasn't exactly his biggest priority at the time, though. He also didn't want them spending endless amounts on him all the time just to fill the space, he was fine with doing everything little at a time.</p><p>Almost all of his time was spent either alone or when that got to be too depressing it'd be spent with Jenny and Rupert. They had introduced him to a couple of their neighbors and he'd stop and chat if they spotted him but that was about it so far. He ventured out a little... mostly looking for job ideas or shopping but he was pretty good at navigating at least part of the town now. He just hadn't been up to doing anything... there was the lack of money, not used to being as alone as he was out here, not even knowing what he might be interested in any more...</p><p>Angel sighed, staring up at the white ceiling that he could barely sit up without hitting. It was too damn early for his thoughts to be this cloudy and this depressing.</p><p>Climbing down, Angel used the bathroom and then threw a shirt on and headed next door for breakfast and distraction.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>The backdoor had already been left open and no one seemed to hear the screen door open or close when he stepped inside the dining room so he just quietly watched for a moment. His lips twisted up just a little as he listened to Rupert and the blonde, he had no idea what they were arguing about but she was animated as she playfully mocked him about whatever it was. Rupert was rolling his eyes when he did finally spot Angel, he smiled and sat his cup of tea down before addressing him. "Oh, Angel, hello. Good morning," Rupert greeted.</p><p>"Mornin'," Angel replied, his voice still a little scratchy from sleep.</p><p>The blonde looked over at him as well now and she shot him a welcoming smile. "Hi!"</p><p>"Hi," he replied with a little nod.</p><p>"Food is almost done," she told him and looked back down at the stove for a moment. "Hope you like omelettes."</p><p>"That I do," he told her and she smiled at him again.</p><p>"Coffee is already done if you want some."</p><p>Rupert took the small break in conversation to introduce the two of them. "I believe you met briefly at the wedding," he started, "but Buffy this is Jenny's nephew, Angel who I mentioned would be staying with us. Angel, this is my daughter Buffy."</p><p>Angel nodded at her again. He remembered her but only just... they'd exchanged hellos and shaken hands and that was about it. He sort of remembered her giving a speech that night as well. Jenny had reminded him last night that Rupert's step-daughter from his previous marriage had a large breakfast with them nearly every Saturday morning and spent part - at least - of the weekends with them. She had apparently been sick the past two weeks which is why she hadn't been around before now.</p><p>Jenny came to join them just as he was finishing grabbing a cup of coffee and it was just a few minutes before they all sat down to eat the large breakfast Buffy and Rupert had made for them all. Angel stayed more quiet than even usual for him with the additional person but Buffy didn't seem to falter at all, she carried on the conversation easily and would even include him several times.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"So, how do you like it out here so far?"</p><p>"I guess it's alright," Angel answered. "I haven't exactly ventured around so I can't say much either way. It's nice being here at Jen's though."</p><p>"So you haven't explored around or anything?"</p><p>Angel shook his head. "Not really."</p><p>Buffy was silent for a moment. "Well, what do you like to do? What do you miss doing?"</p><p>Angel took a sip of his coffee before answering. "I don't know... I didn't do too much outside of work and just spending time with friends and family. We had pretty regular nights out getting drinks or going out to eat, I played basketball or hit a gym, I'd go hockey games every now and then..."</p><p>Buffy seemed to think again real quick before speaking. "How do you feel about skating?" At his raised eyebrow she clarified, "Roller skating. Like at a rink?"</p><p>"I... well, I don't think I've done that in over a decade..."</p><p>"About the same for me," Buffy said with a little laugh. "I'm meeting some of my friends around noon to go, though. You're welcome to join if you want."</p><p>Angel smiled and thanked her for the offer but kindly turned it down.</p><p>"No problem," she answered with a smile. "Maybe another time. Or if you ever want someone to tag along somewhere I'm not too far away."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel helped clean up after everyone had finished their breakfast then headed back to the apartment to take a shower and get changed. He sat down on his new couch and made a few phone calls, sent out some more job applications then sat there browsing random things online for awhile but he felt restless. He kind of regretted not taking Buffy up on her offer just so he'd have something else to be doing right now. And, since she was kind of family it didn't have to be as awkward as trying to make a whole new group of friends.</p><p>Angel had a quick mental debate with himself when he happened to hear a car start up in the driveway before rushing out and just catching her. "Offer still stand?" he asked when she rolled the window down.</p><p>"Absolutely. Come on!"</p><p>He asked for two minutes and went back to the apartment to lock up and tell the others where he was going then returned outside. He slid into the passenger seat of Buffy's car and were soon backing up out of the drive and into the street.</p><p>"I grew up about an hour and a half from here," Buffy said as they reached the end of the street, breaking the ice again. "I wound up in LA for awhile but I got out of a little bit of a hairy relationship and Giles had already relocated here so... I came along. Their apartment was nice but I like the house. And Sunnydale isn't so bad."</p><p>"They tell you why I'm here?" he asked, his hands rubbing against each other in his lap.</p><p>Buffy glanced his way. "Not really... they said you were getting divorced and needed to get away for awhile. They didn't go into any details or anything."</p><p>Angel nodded, looking out the window. "My mom passed away a couple of years ago and my dad was never in the picture so... Jen's just about all the family I had and I didn't know where else to go," he admitted. "It was all very... sudden."</p><p>The two sat in silence for awhile as they drove along. "How long were you married?" Buffy finally asked as they reached a red light.</p><p>"Eight years," he answered. "Together ten... well just under ten."</p><p>"I'm sorry," she said softly. "It's none of my business and by all means if you don't want to answer anything don't or tell me to pick another subject or something."</p><p>"It's fine," he said, looking back out the window. He sure didn't mind her easily changing the subject though.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Buffy introduced Angel to her group of friends once they reached the skating rink and joined up with them. Besides Buffy, her friends Willow and Oz went out of their way to make him feel comfortable which was nice... he otherwise felt a little out of place but it wasn't a bad time. He was sure the lower half of his body would be a little sore come tomorrow after the three hours nearly straight of being out on the floor with the lot of them.</p><p>"They open back up this evening if you wanna come back," Buffy told him as they returned the rented skates.</p><p>"I think I'm good for now."</p><p>Buffy laughed. "I'm gonna agree with you on that. It was fun but man... my feet are killing me now," she told him. "Are you hungry? I could grab something from the snack bar real quick if you want."</p><p>"I don't want to be a bother..."</p><p>She rolled her eyes. "You like hot dogs? Hamburgers? Let's go figure it out," she said and he just followed her through the crowd trying to turn their skates in and into the food court area. "Do you, like, hit your head every morning in the bed?" she asked suddenly while they waited. "I've been in that apartment and you seem to tall for it."</p><p>He gave her an amused look. He found he liked how she'd just start in on random things at random times. "If I am too far off the right I will since it angles down but otherwise I just barely make it," he answered.</p><p>Buffy ordered and paid before they stepped off to the side to fill drinks and wait for the food to be done. Xander and his girlfriend, Anya, stopped to say goodbyes as did their friend Jesse. Willow decided she'd grab some more candy and a drink as well before leaving while Oz pulled their car around.</p><p>Soon it was just them again. The two ate their hot dogs and fries standing out in the parking lot beside her car.</p><p>"I wanna go there."</p><p>Angel turned back around and raised an eyebrow. "Where's there?"</p><p>Buffy used her straw to point across the street to a little shopping outlet. "The arcade. It's like Chuck E Cheese... but... not as fancy."</p><p>His face scrunched up. "Fancy?" he questioned, remembering his last experience at such place.</p><p>Buffy shrugged. "It's Sunnydale!"</p><p>"Well, I mean... if you want to go..."</p><p>She laughed. "I don't necessarily mean right now. Just... some time. I have a list of silly places around here that I want to go to as I can and just have a little joy back in my life with it all."</p><p>He shrugged. "Nothing wrong with that. It's right there though if you want to go now."</p><p>"You're not tired of me yet?"</p><p>"Not in the least. This is honestly been the best time I've had in a good, long while now."</p><p>"Alright," she drawled out. "Well, let's go check it out then."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"Sorry I kind of hijacked your whole day there," Buffy told him as they stood in the small walkway between Jenny and Rupert's house and the apartment.</p><p>"Nah, thanks for letting me tag along. I didn't really have anything else to do today anyway."</p><p>She smiled a little. "You looked like you need to have a little fun and maybe get out of your head. At least for a little while. I know I did."</p><p>Angel thanked her again and said a quick goodbye as they went in opposite directions. He unlocked the door to the loft and plopped down onto the sofa, setting the prizes he'd used his tickets back at the arcade beside him. He'd already eaten the candy, had no idea what he'd need a giant ass whistle for, but the dart board could be hung up on the wall later to try and help with the endless boredom he supposed.</p><p>He had to admit it'd be more fun than he'd thought. His legs and feet were still going to hurt tomorrow from the skating he hadn't been used to but he'd had a good time, he hadn't been locked up in his head, just enjoyed what was instead of stressing about a million things for a few hours. Then the arcade... well, it was designed for young kids, sure, but it was still fun. He and Buffy had just acted silly and started competing with each other with the games... It wasn't a bad time.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"I am sore as shit," Buffy grumbled in a slightly amused tone as she emerged from the guest bedroom just off of the dining area. Angel chuckled a little at her as she walked past him toward Jenny and Rupert who were working on breakfast together. He was far from out of shape but he hadn't been used to skating so his calves sure had some burning sensation in them, too.</p><p>"Are you sure you can't stay the day?"</p><p>Buffy finished a large gulp of the orange juice she'd gotten and nodded at Jenny. "As much as I'd love to because I've missed you all... picking up some extra weekend hours sounded good. I already missed so much work already and the last thing I need is to start falling behind on bills. Again."</p><p>Jenny frowned a little but said she understood. "I'm just glad you are feeling better. And I know how you hate the weekends shifts."</p><p>Buffy groaned a little. "I don't know what it is but Sunday's just seem to drag on. I do not look forward to that," she said with a yawn. Stealing a few apple slices, Buffy came back to the table and sat down. "How is your job searching going?"</p><p>"It's going," he replied with a hint of a sigh. "I had a promising phone call first thing this morning, though so we will see how the interview goes this afternoon." It was currently the top of the list of positions he was actually interested in so he was hopeful he'd make a good impression.</p><p>"I'm sure you'll do great," she told him reassuringly before getting up to help set the counter bar so everyone could grab breakfast.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>After breakfast was over, Angel insisted on cleaning up since he hadn't helped with anything else so far this morning and Buffy returned to the guest room to change. Gone were the unicorn pajamas and messy bedhead the next time she came back out. Angel shook his head as he thought about Darla for a moment, about how she could never get ready to do anything in less than two hours. Buffy felt around for a moment until she found her office tag and clipped it into place before she started saying goodbye to everyone.</p><p>Rupert hugged her tight and told her again how he had missed her. "Don't work too hard now."</p><p>"I won't. It's just an extra shift and I haven't done anything in weeks so it'll be fine."</p><p>"Do drive safe, too. It's showing rain again in the forecast."</p><p>"Always," she replied, rolling her eyes at him.</p><p>"It was nice seeing you, sweetheart," Jenny told her next. "I'll see you next week or if you want.. you know you're welcome to drop by at anytime."</p><p>"I know," Buffy whispered as she hugged his aunt. "Maybe we can get together one evening this week to make up for the past couple weekends."</p><p>"That'd be nice, Buffy."</p><p>Angel was a little surprised when Buffy came over to him and hugged him as well. "It was nice seeing you again, Angel. Thanks for the fun," she told him and wished him luck on the interview again. "I guess I will be seeing you next weekend but in the event you're ever bored or whatever..." she trailed off before handing him a small notebook page. He opened it to find her name and phone number on it as well as a list of places she thought he might enjoy checking out in his free time. On the back it also had the names d numbers of some of the friends of hers he'd met yesterday. "Don't be a stranger," she whispered and smiled his way one more time before giving everyone one last collective goodbye.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>The next several days had been a bit of a blur... A phone call with his lawyer had put him in one hell of a bad mood for nearly two days, he'd also had a fight with another one of his friends from back home when he tried reaching out to them but clearly they believed everything Darla was spinning out of her mouth, and then finally the better side of things had been him starting to work again. It was nice to be distracted. It was nice to be making money of his own. It was also nice to be able to take his anger and frustration out with hammers and other tools also to be quite honest.</p><p>He'd texted Buffy just twice, once to tell her he'd been offered the job and she sent him congratulations, the second was her asking how his first day had gone and he'd told her it'd been good. He'd also sent his number and a quick hello to Willow, Oz and Jesse and then finally Xander. He didn't think Xander liked him much but each one of them had sent him words of encouragement for the new job as well during the week.</p><p>He'd tried out a bar one evening after his shift ended but he still felt out of place there and being alone. A few women had tried their best to make him feel less lonely but he just wasn't ready to even be thinking about that right now. He and Darla were one hundred percent done with one another as far as he concerned - it was paperwork being their only hangup - but his mind wasn't in a good place by far.</p><p>Ten years with Darla then this shit she pulled had messed him beyond belief. He wondered sometimes if he'd ever be able to really trust in someone or trust in a relationship again. And some random one night stand type of a situation didn't appeal to him right now either.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"What in the hell is that?"</p><p>Buffy nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. "Jesus Christ!" she gasped, a hand flying to her chest. "Don't sneak up on people in the middle of the night."</p><p>"I thought you would have heard me."</p><p>"Well, I didn't!" she added with a light laugh. "And what are you even talking about? My movie?"</p><p>Angel's eyes glanced at the screen then back at her, he nodded toward the bowl propped up on the arm rest of the sofa. "That."</p><p>She looked over at it. "Oh. Banana cereal. Or, well, that's what my mom used to call it." At the look on his face she asked if he'd never had such before which had him shaking his head. "My mom was a wonderful lady, a wonderful mother... could not cook anything to save her life. She ordered food, did not make it. The most effort she put into anything was this... she'd slice up bananas, throw them into a bowl with milk and pour sugar all over it. When I miss her I make a bowl... plus it's an easy snack."</p><p>He looked at the bowl again. "Why do I have a feeling you have more sugar in there than bananas?"</p><p>"It's an important ingredient."</p><p>Angel chuckled then did ask her what she was watching.</p><p>"It may not have been smart to start watching a horror show after Giles and Jenny just left, though," she told him after telling him the name and gist of it.</p><p>"It's still light outside," he told her.</p><p>"That matters not!"</p><p>Angel chuckled again.</p><p>"But... you're here now. I'll rewind it back to the start of the episode and you can keep me safe from the monsters an the demons."</p><p>"How about you keep me safe from them instead?" he asked with a smirk, then told her he'd be back and went to the kitchen to fix him a bowl of this "banana cereal" stuff as well.</p><p>While they watched, the two caught up here and there about the week... how his job had been going, how her's was, she gossiped about a few of her co-workers a couple of times... Buffy had reminded him that the other two had an after hours event back at the school tonight when he asked where they'd gone. "I forgot about it until I was literally pulling in the driveway," she told him. "And here I was trying to surprise everyone with an early visit."</p><p>"You had better intentions at least. I just got home, took a shower and was starving. I was coming over in hopes there was food being made."</p><p>Buffy laughed at that. "Wanna order some pizzas?"</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"You gonna walk me home? You're supposed to be my big protector and all."</p><p>Buffy raised an eyebrow at him. "You are out of your damn mind if you think I am stepping outside of this house any time soon."</p><p>Angel chuckled, just finishing putting the last plate away they'd washed up together.</p><p>"Do you work tomorrow?"</p><p>"No, I have weekends off. Usually anyway."</p><p>"Well, I guess I will see you for breakfast then. You know, if the creatures all lurking outside don't grab you between here and your door."</p><p>"Think I'll have to make a mad dash for it. Good thing I didn't lock it before coming over, that'd only slow me down."</p><p>"Smart thinkin'. Also, I was going to mention Oz... you remember Oz... his band got slotted for a gig tomorrow night at The Bronze if you wanna go."</p><p>"Uhh... I don't know. I swung by the other day and didn't think too highly of it."</p><p>"You went to The Bronze?"</p><p>"Yeah."</p><p>"And you didn't have a good time?"</p><p>"No, not really. I felt like I was too old to be there almost."</p><p>Buffy laughed again. "Well, I can't help you get any younger but you haven't gone with everyone as a group so it could have a different vibe. But it's up to you. Invitation stands. It's fun watching The Dingoes if nothing else. You may even get a second show if Cordelia and Devon get into it over something - as usual."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Once more, Angel found most of his Saturday spent alongside Buffy. Everyone ate breakfast together then everyone decided to go shopping at a mall about an hour away. Buffy had somehow managed to convince all of them for a round of mini golf and riding a teeny tiny train around the top floor. He'd almost wound up stuck in forever and she'd nearly died laughing at the situation. He spent the afternoon back in Sunnydale running several errands then when he got back he was back off with her to the club.</p><p>Using the back entrance, Buffy made her way easily through the building. The guard at the back gate knew her by name and the large man had even hugged her before letting her in and gave a nod his way. She waved at several people along the way and he just did his best to keep up with her. He hadn't ventured this far back into the club the last time he was here and tried taking it in as they walked.</p><p>"Buffy!" Willow greeted happily as they got closer to the group. "And Angel! Hi again!"</p><p>Angel got a hug from the redhead as he stepped around Buffy and the group introduced him to a number of new people who'd gathered at the large table. Buffy told him to get comfortable and took his drink order before disappearing back out toward the crowds. Willow tapped his arm and started a conversation with him to keep him company. He found Willow almost as easy to just fall in line with as Buffy so that was nice.</p><p>He met Xander's girlfriend Anya and didn't think her flirting with him earned him any points with the brunette. Amy seemed nice, as did Gunn and Fred that he met tonight as well. He'd been introduced to this infamous Cordelia he'd heard a lot about but she'd just looked him up and down, winked, then continued back with the phone call she was on and then just seemed to run around barking orders at anyone in sight.</p><p>Buffy returned to the table not long before Oz's band took the stage. The table all hollered the loudest and the dance floor filled up pretty fast as the band started their first song. Buffy leaned over and whispered who the members of the band were.</p><p>"They're not bad." And he had to admit The Bronze wasn't so bad tonight. He was in a different area of the bar, he liked live music though it'd been some time since he'd actually had the chance to catch any, and being around other people was a plus. He also hadn't had women hitting on him nearly as much, he had gotten some looks throughout the night but he figured being with the crowd was a little off putting for relentless flirtation. Buffy'd had two males come ask her to dance despite the group however and she had seemed to enjoy herself.</p><p>"I vote we leave before karaoke starts," Fred said hours later. It was already being set up on the stage.</p><p>Buffy laughed. "Yes, please. The last thing we need is Xander thinking that's a good idea again."</p><p>"Or you."</p><p>"That was one time! And yes, let's not repeat that!"</p><p>The group all danced together one more time while Angel watched then started saying their goodbyes and splitting off in different directions. Buffy made sure everyone would have a safe way home and soon it was just the two of them again.</p><p>Buffy drove them home, telling stories about her friends most of the drive, then before parting ways themselves she asked if he was up for skating again for the next day.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Who taught you to cook since you said your mom's most famous meal was that banana concoction from the other night?" Angel asked.</p><p>"Giles," Buffy said with a large smile as she flipped the bacon over. Angel was at the burner next to her frying up some eggs. "I thought he was made of magic... I was still young when he and my mom met and the first time I met him he came to the house and made us dinner. I don't think I'd ever had a real, like, home cooked meal from anyone before that. God knows how many times I had played with the buttons and knobs on that stove either and nothing had ever happened... but he came along and made fire! And food! It blew my mind."</p><p>Angel smiled. "Sounds like a good memory."</p><p>"It is. Of course my mom had never even bothered to plug anything up like the stove or oven so it hadn't worked. At some point when he was at the house he realized it and had got things going but I didn't put that together at the time. I did have to learn not to play with things in the kitchen though after that."</p><p>"I would imagine so."</p><p>"But it was nice... I loved when he'd read me books or just tell me stories and I just loved watching him cook. One day I asked if I could help and the magic just kind of continued... he'd let me help every time, teach me little by little. I would start making lists of things I'd want to learn how to make or even foods I just wanted to try in the first place when I got a little older and together we'd make it happen. It was a good way for us to bond I guess."</p><p>"Your mom never tried to learn?"</p><p>"I don't think she was interested. Or maybe she was but didn't want to take it away from us maybe. Not one hundred percent sure on that but she always loved us in the kitchen together."</p><p>"Sounds like she was a good woman."</p><p>Buffy smiled again. "She was. Not to say she wasn't without flaws but who isn't?" Buffy finished up with the bacon and began mixing ingredients together to make some pancakes for everyone before she started to ask him questions about his own mother.</p><p>By the time the food was all done they had both decided the two ladies who'd passed away probably would have made good friends had they ever had the chance to meet.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Buffy had been most excited when Jenny and Giles had agreed to come along to the skating rink that afternoon. She wasn't surprised when Giles took to a booth in the food court with a drink and a book but Jenny dared to put some skates on and come out on the floor with them.</p><p>"This should totally be a new group hobby," Buffy said.</p><p>"If I don't break a hip or a leg or something by the end of this I will be surprised enough," Jenny said.</p><p>Buffy laughed. "It just takes a little time and practice to get used to it again."</p><p>"Speak for yourself," Jenny told her, reaching for the wall again before she almost fell.</p><p>Angel found it a little easier for him today as opposed to last week. It was also less crowded today than it'd been last Saturday and he was sure that helped some.</p><p>The group skated for about an hour before taking a break and eating a few quick snacks. Jenny said she was done but Buffy and Angel had gone for almost another hour afterward while the others watched. Buffy also joined in on the dance party sock hop that they did at the end after putting the skates up, Angel stood at the edge watching her and the others and just shook his head in amusement.</p><p>She didn't stop singing and dancing the entire way home either.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>The first holiday that Angel had spent with Jenny and Giles had been Halloween back when he first arrived in Sunnydale and Buffy had been out sick but it hadn't been anything but a regular ol' day for him at the time. So the first one that really mattered was Thanksgiving. Part of him dreaded it though because it was his first Thanksgiving alone and it seemed to loom over him as the day got closer and closer.</p><p>It didn't help that just days beforehand he learned he would be needing to make a trip back East to deal with that whole mess next month before Christmas. It was putting a damper on his holidays.</p><p>The past couple of weeks had been pretty consistent otherwise though. He worked, spent time with Jenny and Giles in the evening, on weekends Buffy was take him along with her to some adventure or another... It was a good routine.</p><p>A knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts and he groaned. He'd been taking his sweet time getting ready.</p><p>He opened the door to find a smiling, dressed up Buffy. "Hi, Happy Thanksgiving," she greeted.</p><p>"Hi," he answered. "You look nice."</p><p>She smiled bigger at his compliment. "Why thank you. I'd love to say the same but you look like you're incomplete there."</p><p>He chuckled and ran a hand through his hair- which he knew was getting too long and needed a trim soon. "I was debating actually coming or not."</p><p>"You are mere feet from turkey, you can get it together long enough to be surrounded by loads of lovely people and then stuff your face with all the food on the planet."</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Mmhmm," she hummed.</p><p>"Alright," he drawled. "Wanna come in while I finish getting ready?"</p><p>"Oooh sure," she replied, clapping her hands together. "I've not been in here since you took up residence."</p><p>"I doubt it looks that different," he told her, stepping out of the way so she could come in. He told her she could have a seat if she wanted then walked toward the closet so he could fetch the rest of his outfit. "I haven't done much with the place."</p><p>"It looks nice," she said. "Maybe just lacking a few homey touches."</p><p>"You sound like Jen."</p><p>"It's hard starting over. Especially when it's basically from scratch. But it is nice in here."</p><p>"Thank you," he told her. He stepped inside the bathroom for a moment and fixed his hair and straightened his jacket out before returning to the small main area.</p><p>"Well, now. You look much better."</p><p>"Thank you," he repeated, rolling his eyes a little. "I guess let's get this over with..."</p><p>"Just remember: Turkey. Pie. All the food."</p><p>The whole ordeal didn't turn out so bad... Angel barely even had time to think about how different this years' events were with how busy the day wound up being. Neither Jenny or Rupert had much family around so it was more a gathering of friends, co-workers, neighbors and a few family members but it was nice. There was plenty of people, games to play, stories being shared, food to eat. It made him feel a lot less out of place here.</p><p>His last thought before he fell asleep that night was still of Darla though, of Lindsey, of his old family and friends. Thanksgiving had been Darla's big show of the year and had always been a huge deal to her. He wondered if everyone just accepted that he wasn't there and never would be again.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Buffy stayed Thanksgiving night through Sunday evening since none of them had work to return to until Monday. At the stroke of midnight that Friday she'd found a giant heap of Christmas spirit and had happily been helping decorate the two houses. "Don't tell me you're just a giant ol' Grinch," she grumbled at him as he'd just sat there watching.</p><p>Angel shrugged. He was back in a mood.</p><p>"It's the happiest time of year," she told him then pointed to the tv. "Hear him singing it?"</p><p>He chuckled lightly. "It's a little hard to be excited about your first Christmas in decade being alone and single."</p><p>"You're not alone," she argued. "And you don't have to be single."</p><p>Just then Jenny walked in. "That is true, Angel. There's plenty of lovely ladies in Sunnydale... whenever you are ready."</p><p>He really didn't feel like having this discussion.</p><p>"Anyway..." Buffy continued. "That is no excuse to not try and enjoy all things that are Christmas. So. Get over it because I have plans and lots of them."</p><p>And... she had not been joking about that. He quickly learned Christmas was a big deal to the tiny blonde and she planned to make the most of the season. She'd helped decorate, she'd even gotten him a tree and decorations for it and the inside of the apartment one day when out shopping... he had been surprised she didn't just come put it all together herself after they'd gotten home. He still hadn't done anything with it, everything sat in a corner of the closet. Not that he was telling her that. When she was there - which was more frequent than ever - music played, movies were watched, she baked many, many holiday treats.</p><p>Outside of the house there was so so much shopping. Buffy had temporarily switched out their standing rollerskating time for ice skating, the large group of friends all had a day where they took photos with Santa, they did little workshops where you would paint a picture at one or make some little snowman craft at another.</p><p>She'd invited him to a Christmas party at the small clinic she was one of the receptionists at as the last big hoorah before he'd have to fly back home. It was the third party he'd been to in recent times given the one at The Bronze and another at Xander and Anya's place. He bailed out early and she'd followed, despite him trying to tell her to stay and enjoy it. "Sorry, my head just couldn't be there."</p><p>Buffy shrugged, taking the light up headband off of her head. "Don't be sorry, Angel. I know you have to have a lot on your mind. I'm glad you came though."</p><p>"It was nice to put some faces to names if nothing else. You know, from endless stories about your co-workers."</p><p>Buffy chuckled and they fell into silence for awhile. "Do you have to see her?"</p><p>He nodded. "Apparently. Not sure for how long but apparently we all have to be in the same room to go over shit."</p><p>"I'm sorry."</p><p>"Me, too. It's one step closer to putting it all behind me though so I'm trying to just keep that in mind."</p><p>"Do you need anything? Here? Tonight? Need anything for the trip?"</p><p>"No, I don't think so. I'm already packed... so it's mostly just stress with waiting for it to be time to go. I got my plane tickets, extra money, I have a hotel room, car rented, and all that. Just gonna get it over with and then come back."</p><p>She was quiet again for several minutes, then, "Promise me something."</p><p>"Mm?"</p><p>"Promise me you will do something fun."</p><p>"Fun?"</p><p>"Yep. Anything. Go to see a new movie, go... to lunch with an old friend who is still on your side, go... go to Chuck E Cheese, go find a trampoline park... go on a date.. jump on the bed like you're a kid again at the hotel, go skinny dipping in the pool... do a road trip... something, anything. Do something fun. And then call me and tell me about it."</p><p>In the end, he agreed. He has no idea how he would follow through with such a promise but it was made.</p><p>They bid each other goodnight and Angel did his best to try and get an early night's rest in. When that didn't work he had paced the apartment countless times, tried to watch an episode of a show on Netflix but he couldn't concentrate to know what happened, and in the end he wound up somehow deciding to put the Christmas tree Buffy had insisted he have up. Once it was finished he finally felt tired enough to lay down.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel's hands were shaky but it had very little to do with the freezing air he had stepped out into. He paced back and forth in front of the entrance to the hotel several times before reaching for his phone.</p><p>"Hey," Buffy's voice finally came on the other end of the line. He could easily tell she had been asleep. "Are you up to something utterly exciting?" she asked hi, her voice still scratchy.</p><p>"Uhhh..." he trailed off. He wish he hadn't bothered her now that it was too late.</p><p>"Angel?"</p><p>"Yeah. No. No... I did something stupid."</p><p>He heard rustling on the other end and then, "Stupid how? Are you in trouble?"</p><p>He let out a shaky breath. "No."</p><p>"Well, what's up then?"</p><p>He was quiet again for a long time so she repeated his name twice before he answered. "It was a long day. There was Darla and lawyers and bullshit," he told her, still pacing. "There was her mom and dad in the lobby. A couple of run ins with people I-we-I knew. It was just a shit day."</p><p>"I'm sorry," she told him in a soft voice.</p><p>"Then there was drinking," he continued. "And then there was Eve." She remained quiet this time and Angel let out another shaky breath. "Eve is Darla's younger sister. They hate each other."</p><p>"Oh."</p><p>"I slept with Eve."</p><p>"I did gather that," she responded, he noted she sounded a little amused. "Well, I mean I did tell you that you should do something fun. And call me about it at that."</p><p>He groaned. "This was not fun." Angel re-entered the hotel lobby to get out of the cold as he talked with Buffy for the next half hour. It didn't exactly make him feel better about his choices of last night, though. He'd been raging mad almost the entire day so sleeping with the person who Darla loathed more than anyone on the damn planet had seemed like a good thing- at the time.</p><p>After getting off the phone with Buffy, he did as she suggested and went back to his room and cleaned up, drank a shit ton of water and got some Tylenol to down. He climbed into the secondary twin bed that shared the space and finally went back to sleep.</p><p>He was so ready to get back to California.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>For the rest of his stay, Angel hardly left the hotel room. He dealt with the legal mess Darla had stuck him in and stayed close to the room after what went down with Eve. The only upside to anything right now had been finding out he'd get at least some of his money back, one way or another. Darla got verbally reamed for her actions and that had been nice to bare witness to. He was told she'd be asked to either replace his half of the money she took or they would recover it through other means so there was that.</p><p>Otherwise, the whole process was draining and maddening. He couldn't believe how wicked the woman he'd shared a bed with for nearly a decade behaved. How greedy of a witch she was trying to be with this whole thing. The lies she spun made his head hurt, the claims she made for what she thought she deserved made him want to laugh to the point of tears. It was all a disaster.</p><p>He was grateful he only had to see her a couple of times and never for long. Never alone.</p><p>Darla never mentioned Eve so he assumed she didn't know. He knew he sure in the hell didn't want to be the one to tell her but at the same time he thought he wouldn't mind seeing her face when she did find out.</p><p>In his final hours before he needed to get back to the airport he finally decided to keep his promise to Buffy. He ate at his favorite restaurant then found some museums he'd never been to and decided to look around.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel quickly regretted not getting a straight flight back in California. Heading out it wasn't so bad because he dreaded it in the first place, but it taking forever to get back was wearing on him. He wanted as much distance between him and Darla and Eve and everything else. He just wanted to get home and wind down from the past several days.</p><p>When he finally spotted Jenny he felt a wave of relief. He'd only taken a bag big enough to carry on with him so it was quick enough to exit the airport, find the car and be on their way. Angel fell asleep within minutes of being on the road but when he woke back up he filled Jenny on everything that had gone on- including mentioning his one night stand issue with Eve- but leaving out the details.</p><p>"You are a grown adult. You are legally separated, you are in the process of getting divorced... it is one hundred percent your choice and your right to have sex with whoever you want."</p><p>Angel shot her a look. "It was not my best choice of the whoever."</p><p>Jenny shrugged and they drove without saying another word about it. Angel closed his eyes trying to get the memory of naked Eve out of his head. "Do you think you'll be up to going out to eat breakfast somewhere tomorrow?" Jenny asked as they finally passed the Welcome to Sunnydale sign.</p><p>"What about your guys' big Saturday stuff?"</p><p>"There's Santa Claus." Angel raised an eyebrow. "Buffy wants to go to an event in the morning. There's apparently a large breakfast with a Santa Claus and the whole works. She is very excited."</p><p>He couldn't help the tug at his lips. "Uhh... I guess?"</p><p>"Good," Jenny said slowly. "Because Buffy possibly signed you up for some things to do while we're there..."</p><p>"What kind of things exactly?"</p><p>"And she left some things for you over at the house for when you got back," Jenny finished.</p><p>"Again... what kind of things?"</p><p>"Um, well I didn't exactly go through it but there's some decorations, some pajamas, things like that."</p><p>"Why am I starting to feel dread about going back to the house all of a sudden?"</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"Angel," Buffy's voice whined. He turned around and couldn't help but smile at the sight of the young blonde. "You're not wearing your pajamas. Did Jenny not give them to you?"</p><p>"Oh, no... she did."</p><p>She pouted more at him but came closer to hug him all the same. "You're no fun," she told him as she pulled back away.</p><p>"Still not exactly in the Christmas spirit," he told her. "Much less now than I was before my trip."</p><p>"Well, it is good you have me around then," she told him, now smiling again. She hooked her arm into his and began showing everyone around. She set everyone up at little stations to help get things going for the event and happily moved through the busy gathering crowd. She returned not too long after to help him with his craft station, she made sure everything stayed in orderly fashion, messes were cleaned up as they were made, she took pictures for several families and took pictures with even more, she laughed and made easy conversation with the children and their parents as they came through.</p><p>As things began to wind down a little he was somehow convinced to make ornaments with her, do a puffy paint snowman, and make reindeer hats. When everyone gathered back together they followed the crowd over to where breakfast was being served. After, came a hallway of games and finally there was Santa Claus and a petting zoo- which of course had reindeer. He couldn't help but laugh and get sucked into Buffy's endless excitement. While they waited in line she wasted no time making more friends with young children as she asked them about what they wanted for the holiday or she'd compliment them on their outfit and a million other ways she found to just make someone smile- if only for a moment in passing.</p><p>He followed her as they met the many animals and elves, took photos together in front of them and other displays, and sat on Santa's lap when it came their turn.</p><p>"See. It wasn't so bad."</p><p>"No, I guess not," he admitted.</p><p>"And... it gets you in a better mood for tonight."</p><p>"Tonight?"</p><p>"Mmhmm. But we will worry about that later... let's go shopping!"</p><p>"Again?"</p><p>"But of course! It's Christmas time!"</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Another two hours were spent at the mall, then Angel came back to the apartment and crashed again until the pounding on his door woke him back up. He was surprised it was now dark again. His trip really had wore him the hell out.</p><p>In her arms Buffy held the elf pajamas she'd gotten for him. He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, come on. You'll be in a car with just us. No one's going to see you. You'll be fine."</p><p>"All we're doing is looking at lights?"</p><p>"Mmhmm."</p><p>He rolled his eyes. "Fine," he grumbled. He stepped back so she could come inside and her face lit up as she looked around the apartment but she didn't say a word, just handed the white and green clothing over.</p><p>When he came back out she was waiting with two large cups in her hands. She smiled so hard he thought her face must hurt and he blushed. "This is ridiculous," he told her.</p><p>"Nope. Here's you some hot chocolate," she told him, handing his cup over. He took it from her and got his shoes on then followed her out to the car where they waited for Jenny and Rupert. She messed with the radio until Christmas music was playing and sat back. "What did you normally do for Christmas?" she asked.</p><p>"Um. Well, for awhile it was switched every year between Darla's family and mine but along the way she started getting mad if we didn't do the whole thing at her parents' so it just defaulted there. My office would throw a huge event then afterward we'd go to her parents' and stay the night... wake up in the morning for whatever. Our house would have a tree and whatever decorations she added, I didn't really do too much. I always loved when we went to my mom's and I got to see my family. It was kind of just a day with her family..."</p><p>The others joined them, bringing him out of his little trip down memory lane.</p><p>The journey began and they drove around all of Sunnydale to look at Christmas lights and displays before making a forty five minute roadtrip to go through a large drive thru light show. Angel had to admit he found himself pretty impressed with it. They seemed to have spared no expense and it was quite a winding trip that took nearly an hour to get through.</p><p>At the end there was a "Santa Village" which Jenny asked if they wanted to park and go through. Buffy reluctantly told her no because of her deal with him but when he saw her face at the horse drawn lighted carriage and it's course of "snow" he groaned. "Go ahead."</p><p>"Nooo. No. It's okay."</p><p>"Park the car please. I'll feel like an ass the rest of the month if you don't go do that."</p><p>"I can come back another day."</p><p>He shook his head. "Let's do it."</p><p>Once again, he found the petite blonde hugging the life out of him. He was sure the car hadn't even parked before she was out of it and rushing toward the little village and she'd already had two bags of stuff in her hands before the rest of them caught up to her. She told the married couple to go on the ride first and took a million photos of them before the ride began and as they started away then she took him around to see what else was being offered.</p><p>They checked out the little shops, sampled countless baked goods and got a batch of the best brownies he'd ever tasted in his life in the process, took even more photos... she got to meet the other horses that weren't currently working and happily stood for probably ten minutes under a fake snow machine.</p><p>When it was their turn, the man dressed as Santa who would be in charge of their carriage assumed they were a young couple in love. Neither of them bothered to correct them and instead Buffy smiled and took his hand and put on a show as if they were just that for the ride.</p><p>"You look like a kid in a candy store. Every time," he told her.</p><p>Buffy laughed. "There's magic in the air. Look at this. How can this not just bring you absolute joy?" she asked, looking all around her.</p><p>He had to admit, the trail the horses were taking them on was pretty amazing. It made him feel those butterflies in his stomach again like when he was a kid and fascinated with the bright lights, glitter everywhere... "It is beautiful."</p><p>"But not as beautiful as you, dear one," the Santa exclaimed, handing a wrapped present to Buffy. And then one to him as well.</p><p>"No, not as beautiful as you," he agreed softly with the big man.</p><p>When the ride ended, they met back up with Jenny and Rupert who were nearly as bad as Buffy. They had both of their hands full of newly purchased items, plus they each showed the pair what Santa got got for them.</p><p>Buffy sat down with hers, mentioning it actually felt quite heavy. She made a sound before pulling out a roller skate from the box.</p><p>Angel couldn't help but laugh when he found a pair in his box as well. Both had been in their sizes no less.</p><p>"See. Magic is in the air."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Once she was on break from the office, Buffy set up shop back in the guest house. Angel had one more day than she did then he was out for the holiday as well.</p><p>Christmas Eve was mostly spent with some of Buffy's friends, fulfilling a number of apparent traditions. Gifts were exchanged amongst them before parting ways for now. They returned to the house for dinner and they all watched two movies together. While they played Buffy roped everyone into doing a few more last minute crafts and they all wound up just sharing stories more than paying attention to the television by the end.</p><p>"Are you sleeping out here with me?" Buffy asked as she happily set out cookies and milk and ignored him shaking his head at it.</p><p>"Excuse me?"</p><p>She nodded toward the sofa. "Are you camping out to catch Santa?"</p><p>He laughed. "Does that ever work?"</p><p>"Not so far but you never know. This could be my year," she said with a wink.</p><p>"Oh, what the hell," he muttered and soon was helping her with the sofa bed. "Why not?"</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Jenny got them each a pillow and comforter, Buffy had a red set while he had a green one to keep up with the Christmas theme. They all got fresh glasses of hot chocolate and Rupert read a couple of short stories and then everyone opened their Christmas Eve bags. Everyone was up together until after midnight just enjoying talking and being together but finally everyone decided it might be time to try and get some sleep.</p><p>Angel ran over to the apartment to grab his phone charger and make sure that he locked up. He grabbed a handful of cookies as he came back inside, handing half of them over to Buffy who was already laying down under the large comforter. "I feel like I'm going to have gained twenty pounds between now and the end of the year."</p><p>"I could always take them back..." he started, reaching a hand back toward her.</p><p>"Don't even think about it. I will fat and happy, thank you very much."</p><p>He snickered then plugged his phone up and got up on the small mattress beside her. "Why do I have a feeling you're going to be up at the asscrack of dawn?"</p><p>"Who sleeps in on Christmas?! What a ridiculous notion."</p><p>Angel shook his head as he yawned, getting more comfortable as he pulled his blanket over himself.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"Angel." He barely heard it. "Angel." Nagging whisper came again. Then there was hands on him, shaking him. "Angel!"</p><p>He made a noised and eventually opened his eyes. It took him a moment to remember where in the hell he was as he found himself face to face with Buffy. She was laying in bed beside him, her hair was a mess, her face was glowing through. "Hey," he finally managed out.</p><p>"It's Christmas!" she beamed.</p><p>"Right," he grumbled in between a string of yawns. "Christmas. Hi."</p><p>She shoved at him lightly. "Get it together, no time for your groggy self," she told him. A moment later she was throwing off her red comforter and paddling off down the short hallway to where Jenny and Rupert slept. He could hear her waking them both up while he tried to wake up his own self. He flipped over to his back and propped himself up into a seated position as he took the sight before him in.</p><p>The Christmas tree had more presents under it than it had when he'd gone to bed last night, the stockings were filled, milk had been drank and all but one half of a cookie having been eaten.</p><p>Buffy nearly came flying back into the living room, she clapped her hands and sat back on the bed beside him as they waited. "You are the most excited person I have ever seen in my life," he commented. She was damn near bouncing.</p><p>Buffy laughed. "It's Christmas! You're supposed to be excited!"</p><p>Rupert insisted on getting a cup of tea before the madness began and Buffy huffed at him but soon they were all seated and gifts began to be passed around. With everything going on he hadn't had an endless supply of funds to use for Christmas but he made sure to find something for everyone who'd come into his life during this dark period that would mean something to them, especially for the three others in the house with him this morning.</p><p>He wasn't surprised Jenny and Rupert had spent more than they should have on him but he truly appreciated every last bit of it. They had already done more for him than anyone had in a very long time and it made his chest hurt to really stop and think about how wonderful they'd been to him. He loved the new wallet, handmade key chain, the many new tools... the art kit... new clothing items and boots... the books, it was all amazing. He had so many new gift cards he didn't even know where he'd start. And he knew that his little apartment would be looking much more appealing as soon as he got everything set up. They'd gotten him so much stuff for his place he almost felt like he was drowning in gifts by the end of it all.</p><p>And Buffy... of course she went bigger than she should have but he also expected that. He couldn't help but smile at every gift that came from her... the movies he'd mentioned before he'd never seen and she couldn't believe it, a fill in journal book, a box of pajamas that looked like one for each holiday and a small box of various day passes and tickets to various places...</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"These might be my favorite things in the world right now," Buffy said as she pointed down at her feet. She'd wasted no time in switching her snowman toe-socks for one of the sets of cabin socks he had gotten her. She'd been wearing them ever since.</p><p>Angel sat down his load next to the one she'd helped him bring over. "Well, I am glad that you like them. They were kind of a last minute thing I debated about."</p><p>"I may never take them off," she declared with a hint of a laugh. "Thank you so much, Angel. I loved everything. I'm going to put those passes to such good use, there is never a time I do not enjoy a good zoo or a good aquarium."</p><p>"I will be putting all my many to use as well," he told her.</p><p>"And see, you can go whenever you want... not just when you get dragged off by me. And with whoever you so choose so you're not always stuck hanging out with me, either."</p><p>He shrugged. "I don't mind going places with you. You probably make everything more enjoyable anyway."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Another non-surprise had been Christmas brunch. Pancakes shaped like various items such as Christmas trees, Santa, reindeer, donuts to look like snowmen... fruit cut up to look like candy canes... the works. Rupert had made sure to invite some of their favorite neighbors over and everyone had a nice little meal while they got absolutely stuffed. He was sure he hadn't even eaten this much at Thanksgiving, and that was saying a lot.</p><p>He helped clean up, both from the brunch and the mess of boxes, bags and wrapping paper from the morning, then helped Rupert set up the new tablets Jenny had gotten for them. The Englishman mutter about it the entire time but he did try it out once Angel got everything up and running. The rest of his morning as actually spent helping do one thing or another... hanging up photos or artwork, putting together furniture, rearranging space around so new items could fit where they were desired.</p><p>The afternoon was spent playing on the Nintendo Switch system Jenny had gotten for Buffy and Angel, watching Elf, snacking even though he had no idea how he was adding anything more to his stomach at that point, and just lounging around. It was a nice difference he noted from the many years spent at his in-laws' place.</p><p>By the end of the day he had put some of his stuff away as well but he wasn't in a rush about it, figuring he would do a little here and there over the rest of his time off from work. Or, perhaps, save it for times when he needed a distraction from his head later on.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel had returned to work for a day and a half between Christmas and New Year's Eve and it had nearly wore him out. He didn't think he even wanted to go ring in the damn new year anywhere but with many pushes from his favorite blonde he found himself agreeing in the end. The Dingoes were playing again which was nice, he didn't love the fact of how busy The Bronze was when they got there though. He was never overly thrilled with giant crowds of drunken people like this.</p><p>He wore the silly hat Buffy gave him though, took the pair of sunglasses she offered, and the drinks. He had easy conversation with Oz before he had to go get ready for the show, and with Willow. He somehow agreed to dance with Cordelia at some point.</p><p>It was shaping up to being a strange evening.</p><p>"Are you making any New Years resolutions tonight, Angel?"</p><p>He looked over at his shoulder just as Buffy sat next to him. "Not so much."</p><p>Buffy rolled her eyes and ordered herself another drink. When it arrived, she tapped him several times on the shoulder to grab his attention again. She pointed across the room. "That girl is burning holes in you," she whispered.</p><p>"I had noticed," he told her.</p><p>"She's cute," Buffy whispered.</p><p>"The last time I went drinking in a bar I went home with my sister-in-law. I'm thinking it may not be the best way for me to meet a woman."</p><p>"Maybe that is exactly what you need," Buffy told him. "Or at least making a new friend or flirting or whatever to enjoy yourself more. It's about to be a whole new year... it's a fun night with loads of celebrating going on. You are more or less single, there's a cute girl, and you deserve some happiness. You deserve to let loose and be wild sometimes, too." He didn't respond other than with a side eye look her way.</p><p>It wasn't too long after he was left alone again the the striking brunette made her way over to him. "Hi."</p><p>"Hello."</p><p>"Is that your girl?"</p><p>He looked over to where Buffy and Willow were dancing. "No, just a friend."</p><p>"Hmm. Well, in that case... I'm Faith," she told him, raising her eyebrows.</p><p>"Angel," he told her.</p><p>"Faith and Angel... how about that?" She hopped up on the stool next to him, took his glass out of his hand and drank the rest. "Do you wanna dance?"</p><p>"Not really."</p><p>She put his glass down and quickly laid her now free hands on his legs, sliding up his thighs. Her face was now mere inches from his as well. "Do you wanna go back to my hotel room?" When he didn't respond, she leaned in and kissed him.</p><p>"That's probably not a good idea either."</p><p>Her head cocked to the side, a playful smirk on her face. "I never said it was."</p><p>Angel didn't stop her when her hands began massaging him through his pants, or as she kissed him once more. "How about this," she whispered. "How about I give you a little... taste test... we'll say, and then you can decide if you want the rest of what I have to offer."</p><p>Angel let his mind race for a moment before he found himself agreeing and following behind her, their fingers wrapped up together as she led the way. It wasn't as if he had a wife to be faithful to anymore, it wasn't like he didn't have needs going unmet, it wasn't like it would be the end of the world to go fuck some random hot girl who he picked up at a bar he'd thought.</p><p>Faith wasted little time once they were in the parking lot, less when they finally made it to her car. He'd barely sat down in the passenger seat before her mouth was sucking on his very aching cock. Angel closed his eyes and let his head fall back as she worked him until he couldn't hold on any longer. He'd not even had time to recover before she was speeding out of the parking lot.</p><p>He'd been proud of himself for keeping his together for the most part after the whole attacking Lindsey incident. Then there had been his night with Eve as well. But he really hadn't done anything incredibly stupid beyond that, he hadn't been making a long string of poor choices with his life, he'd not let his emotions even get the best of him as much as possible. Yeah, he'd go through bouts of sadness, of anger... but he mostly just bottled them up and tried to get through the day to day. So, he found letting loose of some of that control, letting go of some of that built up endless frustration with a long night with a sexy woman in a shabby rented room wasn't so damn bad. Even if just once in a blue moon.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Life pretty much when back to normal once everyone returned to work. He was the first one back on a regular schedule, then Buffy was back to her own apartment during the week and they'd find something to do on the weekends, Jenny and Rupert having gone back to work once school started back again.</p><p>He was trying to do a little branching out during the week, a few times he met up with Oz, he had coffee with Willow at the library one morning when he was on break, he after work every now and then he'd go to the library as well, or the gym. Jenny and Rupert had gone with him a handful of times to use some of the tickets Buffy had gotten him but most of his bigger adventures he saved for the two of them.</p><p>As the first month of the new year faded into the next he was unhappy to get news that he needed to come back out again to deal with the shitstorm with Darla. It was mostly signing some paperwork at least and not having to face her again- at least not yet. He headed over to tell Jenny but found Buffy instead. It wasn't the weekend or a holiday so it was a little bit of a surprise to find her. "Hey." He noticed the dining table covered in a mess of what looked like glitter, stickers, fuzzy balls and a whole number of other things as he walked passed. "Do I even want to know?" he asked her as he passed by her as well, peeking his head to see where his aunt was.</p><p>"Giles wanted to do something fun with the kids on Valentine's Day... so, we were going to make little craft bags for everyone but then he decided he might want to do just like some tables set up with different ideas... so anyway, I thought I would help."</p><p>"It looks like Cupid threw up on the table right now," he said, stepping back her way.</p><p>"Well, it's all just in a pile and not sorted. Hush. I also brought you some fun decorations you can put up in your house."</p><p>"I won't even be here for Valentine's Day."</p><p>"Where are you going?" Jenny asked, just coming into the kitchen as well.</p><p>"Guess."</p><p>She sighed. "You have to go back again already?"</p><p>"Apparently. But maybe it's a good sign that it'll all be over with soon. But... with my luck I'm not holding my breath."</p><p>"Boo," Buffy said, fussing with bags. "I was going to make you be my non-date date."</p><p>"What about your boyfriend?" he asked.</p><p>Buffy made a face at him. "Riley is not my boyfriend," she huffed. "I went on two dates with the man and there will not be a third, let alone on Valentine's."</p><p>"Uh oh, what's wrong with Riley?" Jenny asked.</p><p>"Nothing... I mean, he's very nice, just kind of boring. And he and Samantha apparently only separate a few months ago so... not really wanting to be his rebound girl."</p><p>"I liked Riley," Jenny said with a frown.</p><p>"I've only been split for a couple months," Angel told her. "And I sure and the hell am over Darla's dumb ass."</p><p>Buffy shrugged. "Trust me, though. He's not over her and that was pretty apparent. Maybe another day but I cut my losses there for now."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Wow. Jenny was not kidding, you look awful."</p><p>Angel scowled. "Thank you. That helps so much."</p><p>Buffy snickered then started to get him checked in for his appointment. "It shouldn't be too long," she told him. "The person in front of you actually called before you got here and cancelled so you are next on the list."</p><p>He broke out into another coughing fit which made her wrinkle her nose up. She handed him a medical mask and a handful of cough drops. "There's a water fountain just inside those double doors if you need it."</p><p>He muttered thanks and went to go sit down. His butt had barely hit the cushion though before a nurse came out to call for him. Buffy gave him a small wave as he passed back by her little window and he followed the nurse until they got to the right room. He felt like he explained what was going on with him to four different people, had a number of tests ran, had a lot of time just waiting around... but finally it did end.</p><p>Buffy made a pouting face at him as he made his way to the discharge desk. A young kid came up behind him just as he got to her and he let the little boy and his mom go first so he wasn't in the way when he chatted for a little while with Buffy. She looked over his papers, got him to sign what he needed and set him up with a follow up visit. She did a double look at the medicine they were sending him off to get filled and told him he should go to a different pharmacy than they one he'd put down. She quickly made a note on the computer and made a phone call to a different store. "It's about five more minutes for the drive but you won't have to wait nearly an hour in the store" she told him.</p><p>"I appreciate it."</p><p>"No problem," she replied. "Is there anything you might need? I could drop something off once my shift is over or just tell Giles to pick something up."</p><p>He shook his head. "I think I'm good."</p><p>"Alright then. I will see you later in that case."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Three days later and he still felt awful. He'd go through bouts of feeling better then suddenly take three steps back in this road to recovery. And he was tired of it.</p><p>Groaning, he pulled himself up from the couch. His body ached with every damn move. He opened the door to find the bubbly blonde, she handed him a large bowl of soup. He thanked her as he took it from her then watched as she bent down to grab the small bag laid down at her feet. "I also brought you a I hope you feel better soon kit."</p><p>"Why does none of this ever surprise me?"</p><p>She shrugged and followed him inside. He sat down and sipped slowly on the food while she sat the bag down on the couch beside him and started to gather a few things out to show him then put away for him. Most didn't go far, she helped make a little station out of one of his end tables with Kleenex, Germ-X, new cough drops and such. She picked up around the apartment despite his protests of saying she really didn't need to trouble herself, even washing the few dishes he had in his sink plus the bowl and spoon she'd brought over when he was done.</p><p>He groaned more as he moved positions on the couch and she made a face at him before going back to this bag of hers. He wondered how much she brought, it looked like it wasn't that big but she kept pulling shit out of it like a magician. "Hold on a sec," she told him then disappeared into the bathroom. He heard the water running not long after.</p><p>Her head peeked out from the doorway. "Come here."</p><p>His face wrinkled up and he moaned and groaned the whole time but he made his way there. He looked at the bath tub that was now filling with water. "What's that?"</p><p>She grabbed a small bag and pour white things into the running water. "Bath salts should help your muscles feel better," she told him. Then she grabbed a green bottle and poured it in as well, it had a stronger scent than those salts. "And this is for a vapor bath, it should help the other gunk going on."</p><p>He looked at her, the filling bath, then her again. "You want me to get in there?"</p><p>"Yes, you big baby. It'll help you feel better."</p><p>He was silent for a moment. "I don't really... 'do' baths..."</p><p>Buffy rolled her eyes. "You will live. It will help. It won't make you any less manly or whatever." Eye roll again. "When is the last time you took some medicine?"</p><p>Angel told her he was about due for his next dose.</p><p>Buffy grabbed him some towels and placed them on the sink. "I'll grab you some clean clothes and you can take the bath, dry off, put some new comfy clothes on, take your pills and maybe get some rest and heal up a little better mmmk." She didn't leave him much time to respond to that, slipping past him and heading for his closet. His mouth opened to say something as she began digging around but no words came, he just watched until she came back. She laid two outfits out saying she didn't know what he might one, one was just some sweatpants and a shirt while the other was one of the pajamas she'd gotten him for Christmas. She'd also grabbed him some socks and boxers and a throw blanket since he kept wearing them as capes.</p><p>Buffy turned the water off and started for the door. "You can throw your dirty laundry out the door if you want. I'll stand over there and take the hamper over and start washing all this."</p><p>He sighed but just threw his hands up as a 'whatever then.' Buffy disappeared from sight and he groaned some more as he undressed. He put his discarded blanket and rest of what he was wearing outside the door with a long reach then closed he door. He looked at the tub again once more before getting in.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>When he was all done, he found Buffy putting a new pillow and blanket on his couch. She frowned and turned to face him. "Why don't you just go stay in the guest room? It's a lot more comfortable than sleeping on this thing and God knows you don't need to be trying to climb up there to the bed right now."</p><p>He knew that was some truth. He hadn't even attempted that in days, nearly killing himself getting down the ladder one morning. "Didn't seem right?"</p><p>"For Pete's Sake. You are impossible."</p><p>"Where are you going to sleep?"</p><p>"Well, there is a sofa bed in their living room that I am pretty acquainted with. Or I could always stay with Wil or something."</p><p>"I don't want to put you out."</p><p>She threw the pillow at him, barely missing. "You're not. Plus it'll put Jenny's mind at ease I am sure with her being able to keep a better eye on you. So, grab what you need and come over there."</p><p>He tried to argue with her again but it was useless. He wound up next door a few moments later. He took his next dosage of the medicine Buffy's clinic had given him, got a drink and headed into the guest room. He waved her off when she started to tell him he need not worry, the bedding had been washed and everything. "It's all fine, Buffy. Thank you."</p><p>She fluttered around the room a little then let him get into bed. He barely even registered her turning the lights off and closing the door all but a crack before he passed out.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel had to admit he didn't feel perfect but he sure in the hell felt a lot better than he had since all this shit started. His body ached less and he had slept straight through the rest of the evening, night, and damn well past noon the following day and that didn't hurt matters either. He stretched and groggily said a greeting to Rupert once he made his way to the living room.</p><p>"How are you feeling?"</p><p>Angel told him he was much better and the two chatted for a few moments before he excused himself to the bathroom. He got a little more waked up then came back out. He didn't see that anyone else was at the house so asked Rupert what everyone had been up to before the older man told him there was a plate of food sitting in the microwave for him when he was ready.</p><p>He was starving so you didn't have to tell him twice. He hadn't eaten a real meal in days either. Attempted, and failed... so he was a little cautious and didn't eat too much but even just the small portion he had was next to heaven. Rupert came to join him with a new cup of tea and they just talked while he ate, and then just sat there for a long time after. He rarely got a lot of time alone with him so it was actually kind of nice he decided.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel was able to return to work mid way through the next week and he was thankful for that. With the weather getting even warm by the day work was flowing a little more which was nice as well. Every now and then he'd be able to pull a few extra hours in and started to feel a lot better about his current financial situation at the very least. He felt much better about being able to buy more things for himself and help out with things back at the house but mostly he put everything into savings in case he needed it for any number of reasons.</p><p>He'd even been able to pay for another trip back East. It hadn't been much of one and he didn't even bother staying overnight, just flew in, got what he needed handled then caught the first flight back out. Any more lately anytime he even heard from his lawyer it'd about put him in a bad mood for the whole day after their discussion. He'd gotten some good news in the past few months but more often than not he was just annoyed with the whole thing period.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"What are we, ninety?" Angel asked as they pulled into the Bingo Hall.</p><p>Buffy laughed and shrugged. "It was Anya's idea. We're just going with it."</p><p>"They have Bingo and Trivia," Oz read as they all, plus Xander as well, all got out and started walking toward the door.</p><p>"I feel like we should be helping the old ladies make it across the parking lot or something," Xander commented... moments before he fell over not having seen the lift up to the sidewalk.</p><p>"Maybe they need to help you there Xan," Buffy laughed.</p><p>Once more, Angel found himself enjoying the evening much more than he thought. Bingo wasn't so bad, he wound up making a couple hundred and winning one of the raffles... not to mention his ego sure wasn't hurting from all the elderly ladies hitting on him the entire time. One lady had him damn near blushing and the others all rolling with laughter.</p><p>After Bingo they did head over to another part of the building to partake in the trivia section. The group broke up a little over there so now he was just walking around trying to find anyone that he knew, grabbing popcorn and cotton candy along the way. When he found Buffy she had drinks in her hand and smiled at him. "You have better goodies than me."</p><p>He offered some to her and thanked her when she handed his drink over. "You wanna come watch Oz? Somehow he found a giant Guitar Hero play off and is kind of killing it."</p><p>"Lead the way," he told her. They picked up Xander and Anya on the way and all took seats together to watch the show.</p><p>"This might be more interesting to watch than The Dingoes," Anya said and everyone looked at her.</p><p>"Don't tell him that," Angel chuckled.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"What kind of bucket do you want?"</p><p>"What?" Angel took a few steps back to where Buffy was and followed her line of sight. Easter supplies. "You cannot be serious."</p><p>"Have you met me?"</p><p>"You're really thinking I'm going to be Easter egg hunting?"</p><p>She pursed her lips together and nodded. "Sorry, not sorry. It's gonna happen. Soooo... what kind do you want?"</p><p>He shook his head and they looked through the isles worth of Easter decorations, baking supplies, premade baskets, candy and more. She about filled the entire shopping cart full of random things for the coming holiday.</p><p>As soon as they'd gotten back to the house, she already started putting some of the decorations up and sorted through craft supplies. Again, she saved some for the house for them to do and made some bags for Rupert to put up in the library for the kids at school. She made a list of various egg hunting and events coming up and threatened him when he joked about there was no way he was taking any photos with an Easter Bunny.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>By the time Easter actually came, Angel had taken about five different photos with various Easter Bunnies, he had more candy and small toys such as stampers and bouncy balls than one person would ever need. He was pretty sure he hadn't been to as many events in his entire lifetime for Easter than he had in the past few weeks. He'd even started just giving away what he got after all was said and done at some of these events.</p><p>Angel did have to admit he was having fun though.</p><p>There was childlike wonder inside of Buffy and she seemed to instill it into anyone and everyone around her every time. He was sure that had anyone else in the past two decades asked him to do any of this shit he'd have looked at them like they were crazy. He looked at Buffy like she was crazy all the time, too, but he went. He did all the things. And he enjoyed himself with activities you couldn't have paid him to do before.</p><p>Angel put his blue marker back into the bucket then held up his drawing for Jenny to see. She laughed and he waited for her to get done with hers before the got up off the tiny picnic table and handed them to the lady at the head of this craft table. He scanned the large area and was mentally checking off what activities he'd done since getting here... the egg hut, photos, petting zoo area...</p><p>"Come on!"</p><p>He turned slightly and felt Buffy's hand grabbing his. "Where are we going?"</p><p>"Give that to Giles," she said, using her other hand to take the bucket he was holding and handing it to her father. "We'll be back," she called out and started pulling him along.</p><p>"Where are we going?"</p><p>"You'll see."</p><p>Next thing he knew he was standing at the top of a barn. Buffy turned around to face him and slowly backed up the edge. She giggled as she closed her eyes, held her arms out and let herself fall backward. He stepped forward to watch as she fell down into the endless amount of hay below. She disappeared when she landed, huge pieces of loose hay flying up in every direction.</p><p>For that split second before she fell he felt a strange sensation in his chest again. Earlier, when he had opened the door and found her on the other side it'd struck him out of nowhere. She stood there in a little sundress and sandals, bunny ears and her face painted with a little nose and whiskers and he'd felt strange as he looked at her. It was like it was hard to breath for a second. She turned around and shook her behind at him to show him the poof of a bunny tail she was also sporting and when she laughed he'd felt almost dizzy. For a moment his mind seemed to scream that he wanted to just kiss her.</p><p>It'd hit so fast and out of nowhere... and he'd had a hard time shaking it. He'd been trying ever since.</p><p>She'd done a face painting on him when they'd first gotten here and that hadn't exactly helped either. She was too close and he felt like he was blushing the entire time. He was wondering if it'd been just too damn long since ringing in the New Year with Faith.</p><p>Finally, Buffy emerged from the depths of the hay pile from hell. She looked at him and shook and yet it was sticking out from everywhere... her hair was a mess, she took her shoes off and shook them and fell about four times as she attempted to move out of the way. She beamed up at him and shouted for him to come. He shook his head at her but did it anyway. He mimicked what she'd done minutes ago and soon was racing toward the ground.</p><p>Buffy laughed so hard she nearly doubled over. He just looked at her. She waved a hand in the air then tried helping brush the itchy yellowness off of him. He plucked a few out of her hair then just gave up. "I think you just have to look like this now."</p><p>Buffy laughed harder.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>A month passed before Angel started to really give more to these random moments of lust toward his favorite blonde. He had brushed it off for any number of things and yet couldn't seem to shake it, and they were happening much more frequently than he'd like to admit. He had even avoided her one entire weekend and he had attempted two dates that Jenny set him up on - she had mentioned her co-worker before but he had told her the first time it'd been brought up that he just wasn't interested in dating or being with someone again yet but he hoped it'd put an end to all this mess with Buffy - but that hadn't helped one damn bit. In fact, he was pretty sure it made it worse.</p><p>"You're acting weird."</p><p>Angel's head snapped up. "What?"</p><p>"You're acting weird," Buffy repeated. "You keep looking at me like you're mad at me."</p><p>He cleared his throat and sat up more in his seat. "Sorry. I'm not, why would I be?"</p><p>"I don't know either, Angel," she gave him a pointed look.</p><p>He cleared his throat again. "I just... Nah, I just have a lot on my mind. I was kind of spaced out anyway, sorry."</p><p>Buffy sat his orange juice down then grabbed both of their plates and returned to the table, sitting down to eat. Skating had become an every other Saturday thing for the two of them and this was their week off so she began throwing out different ideas of something all of them might want to do.</p><p>"Oh, wasn't there a movie you wanted to see?" Jenny asked Rupert.</p><p>Buffy got interested right away. "Really? An actual movie, a new movie, in a theater and you want to see it?" she asked. "I think that's a must do."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel had watched movies alongside Buffy but going out to one hadn't been on the list of many activities they had done together. Probably because it was "normal" he joked in his head. Usually they were off doing something wild and crazy.</p><p>While Rupert got their tickets together, Buffy dragged him over to the small arcade area in the corner and they played a few games before being called back over to pick out snacks. He shook his head once she was done placing her order. "For as much junk food as you eat, how in the hell are you so damn tiny?" he had to ask.</p><p>Buffy shrugged, biting into a piece of a Red Vine. He had to carry half of the stuff from the counter to their seat since there was so much there. Buffy sat at the end of the row, her father then Jenny sitting between the two of them but it didn't bother him. Buffy made sure he didn't know he was forgotten about in a million different silly ways through the movie.</p><p>After it was over, Rupert mentioned he didn't even remember the last time he'd gone to a movie with her but Buffy did. Her face lit up as she reminded him of one of the last work related events her mother had been part of, how everyone had gotten tickets for their families to come watch a movie, got free popcorn and drinks. Buffy's face was elated by reliving the memories, talking about how she remembered it was so cold outside and so cold inside the movie theater, that he had gone out to the car to bring her a blanket in. They watched the Christmas movie then had snuck in after it was over to another room and saw a second one before calling it quits.</p><p>Jenny had told stories of how when Angel was little it was one of the things they had done together the few times she'd gotten to come visit him on the ride toward the diner they had decided to stop at before heading home. The rest of the evening Buffy went off for a girls' night out with Willow then Sunday came and they all, plus Xander and Anya, made a zoo trip.</p><p>An older couple had sat behind them on the little electric train ride and while they'd been whispering to themselves both he and Buffy had heard them making comments about them as if they were a couple. She had that sly look on her face he was familiar right before she rested her head on his shoulder and cuddled close. Playing along - and not - he wrapped one of his arms around her and their fingers entwined, staying that way for the whole ride. He'd barely held it together when their show really got put on when they started just carrying on a conversation as if they were together, loud enough that they knew the two behind them could hear.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel knocked on the door and waited for the invite before stepping inside. Jenny looked shocked to see him and quickly got up, asking him if something was wrong. He quickly eased those fears out of her mind and told her he just needed to talk to her. That brought on a whole new worried look on her face. He'd only had a half day at work today due to some schedule changes the previous week and he knew she had this hour typically free during these summer school hours... so here he was.</p><p>Angel knew that while it was her free hour, sometimes she'd use it for meetings and more often to catch up and plan for other things so he checked to make sure he wasn't messing something up before taking a seat in one of the desks in the front row in front of her large desk.</p><p>This probably wasn't the best time or place to get into this, but he'd been fighting the urge to come clean to her now for weeks and came her on a whim almost. So, Angel sat here and repeated he just wanted to talk to her about something... then he started to explain he thought there was someone he was starting to have feelings for, had been for awhile now actually. "And... it's probably not the best person that I should be looking at in that kind of light..."</p><p>"Oh, no," Jenny said. "I love you, Angel... but please, for all that is holy, please don't tell me you've started to fall for Eve."</p><p>His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What?! No! God, no!"</p><p>She let out a sigh of relief. "Well! You did say twice in the past month she had tried contacting you!"</p><p>"She had but I had nothing to say back to her! Christ, Jen. Eve? No, I'm not having feelings for Eve."</p><p>"Good. I couldn't handle that."</p><p>Angel had to laugh and shake his head. "No, no," he told her. "It's someone you actually like... just probably not with me. And... I don't even know where she stands on anything and..." he mumbled on but was interrupted by another teacher sticking her head in and asking for help.</p><p>Jenny tried to push it back but Angel told her it was alright. "It can wait," he quickly said and was already standing. "I'll talk to you later alright?" And then he spent the rest of the afternoon wishing he hadn't even gone because suddenly all he could see were the negatives of this whole situation.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"Buffy! I didn't know you were coming by tonight."</p><p>She smiled. Angel noted she looked a little extra dressed up tonight. And then cursed himself for noticing it. "Well, I hadn't been planning on it," she admitted. "I actually just was breezing through to grab a pair of shoes."</p><p>"Do you not have enough at your apartment?"</p><p>Buffy shot a look at her dad before going off to the guest room and a moment later she was back, already working on putting them on as she leaned in the small hallway between the living room and kitchen. "I do," she finally answered. "But these one look better with my dress. And I have a date that I'm actually kind of excited about for once soooo... I wanted to look extra cute."</p><p>Rupert started to ask her a few questions and something about his face or body language or something must have given it away because Jenny had this light bulb turning on look on her face and she stared at him hard. His jaw set and he shook his head so this could be discussed at a later time, away from the other two people in the room right now.</p><p>Jealousy was new. He felt it rush through him. Not overwhelmingly but just a dull pain. It only made it more apparent to him that this wasn't something he was getting rid of so easily.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"Buffy?!" Jenny asked, her eyes wide.</p><p>Angel pursed his lips together and took a seat on the small couch in the apartment. "Yeah."</p><p>"Well, I mean..." her head cocked to the side a little, her hand going up to her neck, "It makes sense in many ways but..." she trailed off. "Is it because she looks like Darla?"</p><p>"What?! Buffy doesn't look like Darla. At a glance maybe... small, blonde... yeah but no. And Buffy couldn't be otherwise more different than Darla."</p><p>Jenny nodded. "That is true." She took a moment then came to sit beside him. "So... like... real feelings for her?"</p><p>Angel shrugged. "I don't know. Yes?"</p><p>"For how long?"</p><p>"Easter..."</p><p>"Easter? That was in April. It's the start of June... and you've just been carrying that around?"</p><p>He shrugged again. "I was hoping it'd go away. I thought I was imagining it or something... I don't know. She was just there in front of the door on Easter with bunny ears on her head and... I just felt... well, it's going to sound weird putting it that way but I felt attracted to her. She just smiled in this way that I could feel it in my bones and I just wanted to grab her and kiss her. And it hit me again later and time and again. It goes beyond that, too... I am never happier than with I am with her. I have fun, she makes me laugh. I've had more fun with her in the past several months than I did in all my years with Darla, like I feel more myself somehow. Which sounds dumb."</p><p>"No, it doesn't," she cut in softly.</p><p>"Maybe it's just that... just that I haven't bothered trying to really be with someone else, maybe it's just natural to fall into that because I happen to spend the most time with her. But... something is there for whatever reason. I'm happy when I'm with her, when I get some random ass text message from her, when I spent an hour on the phone with her every now and then just talking about random shit."</p><p>"That actually sounds pretty natural."</p><p>He shrugged. "Trying to get them to just pass and life to go back to normal."</p><p>She was quiet for a moment, then, "It's not like it's a bad thing... You can do a lo worse than Buffy."</p><p>"It just feels wrong."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>He shrugged again. "She's Rupert's daughter for one thing. Then... I don't know. She's all bright and shiny over there and I'm just getting this new life of mine going. I don't want to dump my crap all on her. And hell to begin like I said earlier it's not like she's over there even wanting any of this so... yeah."</p><p>"I will admit it seems a little complicated but that doesn't mean it's wrong," Jenny told him. "Yes, Buffy if Rupert's daughter but that isn't an issue... he adores you, you know that. And it's not like you guys are family by blood, you're not first cousins over here or something," she told him with a laugh. "You're family by other means and that can cover a whole lot of ground. Whether you two are friends or more, if that worked out or even if you guys gave it a shot and something didn't work out... you're still both family to us. And it's not like either one of you are purposefully going to just be out to hurt the other so..."</p><p>"Yeah. I know."</p><p>"I think it could be a good thing - if it ever came to be. Don't down it before any steps are even taken. Maybe everything will just fall into place naturally..."</p><p>"Yeah. Maybe."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>It felt good to at least say the words out loud to someone, it eased a lot off of his shoulders Angel found. He still fully enjoyed spending time with Buffy... their weekends were still full of adventures, he still talked to her almost daily, he was still as much part of her world as she was his but it had changed in other ways. Sometimes he had a hard time listening to her talk about the guy she was seeing, or would have trouble not up and saying something he shouldn't, or a few times having to restrain himself from just grabbing her and kissing the hell out of her in those moments where she just would have that look on her face as if she was made of fucking sunshine.</p><p>The fact that it was now much warmer didn't help with those type of feelings either. Constantly less clothing on everyone's bodies now, going swimming constantly, heat making him lose his damn mind all the more.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"How do you feel about camping?"</p><p>"Like in a tent?"</p><p>"Well, maybe a tent or like a rented cabin."</p><p>"Does it really matter what I even say to this?"</p><p>"In the long run, no. But it might be nice to see how much convincing I need to do between now and the fourth."</p><p>Angel shook his head. "Nah, none. Sign me up, let me know when and where. It sounds fun."</p><p>Buffy smiled. "Well. Okay then. That was easy."</p><p>Angel shrugged and continued working on the repairs on the decorative fence in the front yard by Jenny's little flower garden. Buffy took a seat on the porch step and started scrolling through her phone at different options, every now and then asking him what he thought about something or stopping to show him a photo of a campground or whatever.</p><p>Every now and then she'd go inside to ask Jenny or Rupert something as well. By the time he had finished, she had pretty much planned the entire little vacation out.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"Did we buy enough food for a four day trip, or did we buy enough to feel a small country?"</p><p>Buffy looked over at everyone's carts and shrugged. "We may have gone overboard. But! But it's not all food!"</p><p>That was true... tucked away in the garage had been a number of things they already had packed and ready to go. He'd helped make sure everything was in working order prior to the trip. Then they had worried about what they didn't have and still needed to get.</p><p>Shopping with Buffy was always an experience. And shopping on an empty stomach was never a good idea.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"Do you plan on helping with the setting up part?"</p><p>Buffy made a face. "I wasn't. At least not with any of... that," she waved at the tent.</p><p>He chuckled and told her to get her ass up. She grumbled at him most of the time but it wasn't too terribly long until their campsites were set up, items all squared away and out of the cars. They all took a little tour around the grounds before he came back and started grilling a few things up.</p><p>Once everyone had eaten, she had dragged him up the road to one of the little playgrounds that were offered to the guests. "It gets any hotter, I'm gonna have to make you carry me over to the pool."</p><p>"I don't know about lugging you around but the rest sounds good."</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Mmhmm."</p><p>Somehow he got roped into racing with her up to the pool which was nearly on the other side of grounds after getting changed. He waited around a corner until she caught up to him, lifted her up and wasted no time just chucking her in. There weren't any other guests around surprisingly, but a couple had shot him some looks as she screamed flying through the air and then making a huge splash.</p><p>Buffy started playfully yelling at him as soon as she came back up for air but he didn't catch all of it, jumping in his own self and swimming to the other side of the large pool from her.</p><p>By the time they finally decided to get out, Angel thought he just might be full blown in love with his girl rather than some weird ass crush hitting him on repeat. It was one thing that of course she was beautiful... whether she was waking up with a birds nest in her head, dressed up as something silly, ready to go out on the town... no matter what she was stunning. It was one thing that her body had to attract every male who could catch a view of her in their eyesight. Seeing her in a tiny little bikini sure didn't make him feel any less of that lust to touch her and stare at her and wish he could see what little was still covered. But beyond all of that... it seriously was he just enjoyed the fuck out of being with her. Acting like kids, splashing, chasing each other around a pool, making up stupid games to play with one another... that was what struck him more about her. Going back and forth between doing all of that or just floating around on inflatables just talking or hell even being in silence together felt like it was noteworthy when it came to it happening with her.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>As night fell, Angel grilled up their dinner and they got to see some fireworks going off early all around them in the distance. Buffy went over their plans for the next few days one more time and then everyone just kind of relaxed until one by one calling it a night.</p><p>Buffy was already passed out in the tent they would be sharing when he came back after taking a shower, changing into some sleep clothes and just getting ready for bed. He couldn't help but brush a loose strand of her long blonde hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. She'd taken up nearly all of the air mattress they had set up so he did his best to slide in beside her without disturbing her.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>The majority of their Fourth Of July was spent at a water park. For a major holiday it wasn't as crowded as he expected and fully enjoyed that aspect. He was wore out by the time they did all decide to head out and took a long nap when they got back to camp. When he finally did wake up it was dark and they were all packing up to go watch fireworks.</p><p>Buffy made sure every last one of them was wearing red, white and blue. They all had glowing bracelets, hats or light up headbands.</p><p>They watched a huge show that a hotel put on over the water. A concert also played off to the side before and after so there was music, dancing... being goofballs the entire time. They went out for some ice cream before going back to the camp where he wound up building a fire and making some late night snacks.</p><p>The day after they went to an amusement park that was tied up with the campground they had decided to stay at. He was wore the hell out from the day before but he knew one hundred percent he would be after all they did. He was pretty sure he'd ridden every single ride they had to offer - including all of the kiddie ones because, of course, Buffy insisted.</p><p>They did all the rides, took a million photos, did every game they had... bought tons of gifts, food... just generally enjoyed their day as best they could.</p><p>Then their final day, again they mostly stayed close to camp. They played on the playground, swam... went to two museums and then packed up and headed back to Sunnydale where they pretty much all just got what they absolutely had to out of the car and slept and slept and slept.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Angel rubbed his hands together while glancing at the clock again. He tried to decide whether or not he wanted to keep watching TV - one that Jenny had finally talked him into getting just a couple weeks ago now - or if he wanted to log onto Netflix to try and find something on there, if he wanted to hop in a shower or at the very least climb up to his bed and attempt to get some sleep. He doubted the latter would top that list... it was one of the hottest nights he'd experienced this summer so far, plus Buffy had left not too long ago on a date and he doubted his mind would shut up on that subject any time soon.</p><p>Finally, he flipped through a few channels and found a movie he liked playing, it was nearing the end but it was good background noise, he could play it without really having to pay attention. He stood up to refill his tumbler of ice water then walked the short distance over to the a/c unit to make absolutely sure it was blasting at top level.</p><p>Just as he got over there though there was a knock on the door.</p><p>"Hi," Buffy greeted when he opened the door. "I heard the TV on so I figured you were still awake."</p><p>He nodded. "You wanna come in?" He moved out of the way so she could join him in the loft before asking her why she still wasn't on her date.</p><p>She had a curious look on her face after sitting down and seemed to think over what he asked. "I just didn't want to be there anymore," she finally said.</p><p>He didn't like the vibe she was putting off. "Something happen? Do I need to go kick someone's ass?" he tried to joke.</p><p>She finally smiled a little at that. "No," she chuckled a little. "He just said something stupid and I probably made too much of it, but... I just didn't want to be there any longer. That's all."</p><p>Angel asked if she wanted something to drink and brought it over, taking a seat on the other end of the little couch. "So. What'd he say?"</p><p>"It's stupid. Really."</p><p>"It bothered you."</p><p>She sighed. "Okay. Well, backstory... before I moved to Sunnydale I was with this guy for awhile... much longer than I should have been... I think a part of me went into it already in a bit of a bad place but he just... he made me feel... bad. Like, bad about everything. About myself, about other people, the world around me. He wasn't, you know, physically abusive or anything like that. He didn't call me names or yell at me or those types of things but he was kind of possessive - and in not a cute way - and just little flags raised up here and there. But the thing was... he just had a way of saying things... it was how he said them and when he chose to were so precise to making you feel so down on yourself. I didn't even realize it for the longest time, and maybe I did almost too late. But anyway... why I'm telling you this is so maybe I don't so completely crazy..." she rolled her eyes and sighed. "He said I was too happy of a person and that I smile too much."</p><p>All Angel could think was how crazy this moron must be, not her.</p><p>"He had this look on his face when he said it, too. Like... I was offending him. I just didn't like it."</p><p>"I don't think it was stupid to be upset over that at all," he told her softly. He couldn't imagine anyone having any type of issue with Buffy, let alone over that of all things. That was exactly what drew him to her.</p><p>She huffed to herself and just stared at the TV for awhile. "I have feelings. I'm not a robot," she mumbled and he glanced over at her. "I get sad, angry, whatever. I just... I would rather be happy as much as I can be, and it's not forced for the first time in a long time. I am happy, I like being silly and just enjoying as much as I can. I like finding joy in people around me, in moments, in-"</p><p>"Buffy, you don't have to defend yourself to me. Or to anyone for that matter. You are perfect exactly how you are. I love that you are a little ray on sunshine over there."</p><p>"Thank you," she said softly before taking another drink from her glass and snuggling more comfortably into her seat.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>An infomercial started playing after the movie. At first they were locked in conversation then they both kind of stared at the TV for a few minutes. "Maybe that's what I need," she said, pointing at the screen.</p><p>Angel raised an eyebrow. "What? A matchmaker?"</p><p>"Yeah," she laughed. "Dating stinks. Maybe I just hand over control to someone else." A lady came on, repeating the phone number and pricing in an obvious fake accent. "She seems real credible. I wonder if you can request who you get."</p><p>"You should call. You can be all my name is Buffy Summers, I live in beautiful, sunny California. I want a man who is tall, dark and handsome. Must not comment on my amount of smilage."</p><p>Buffy laughed. She finally really laughed a Buffy laugh for the first time since arriving. "I would be so fun with a matchmaker," she said. An evil twinkle in her eye.</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Yeah! You can't just go in there being all boring, Angel. You gotta be specific, give out all the important stuff. Of course you gotta say I want the tall, dark and handsome. You want someone who makes you laugh, that you have fun with. You... you want someone you can be best friends with... a best friend who you also want to see naked and touch their fun parts. Which, by the way... wouldn't that just make life so much more easier? Dating is awful. It would be much nicer to just... get to know someone and like someone without all the pressure, to like someone just because of who they are... decide hey, this person is amazing. And then you like them in other ways. But yeah... there's things that are just obviously a given."</p><p>"And you don't need to go on all about them?"</p><p>"Nope. Because that just doesn't help. Anyone can be cute but you need more than that."</p><p>"Mmhmm."</p><p>"You gotta be all... listen, you might need to take some notes about this one. I'd be all... I want someone who... someone who would rather be out doing something fun rather than wasting money buying things they really don't need all the time. Someone who understands and doesn't give me a hard time about the fact I like spending time with people I love, not just them. Someone who understands my Saturday breakfasts with my dad, with my family, is important. I want someone who..." she trailed off for a moment, thinking. "I want someone who will have a pillow fight with me nearing thirty, forty... eighty. Who will jump in a creek with me on a hot afternoon and catch fish and splash around. Someone who will see something ridiculous, get it... just because it reminded them of me or just because they thought it would make me smile. Someone who... watches my favorite TV shows with me, pretends he doesn't like them but winds up as invested in the characters as I am..." Buffy trailed off with a few more things, each bouncing far in one direction from the next.</p><p>On the TV there was suddenly a couple making out on the hood of the car in the rain. Both of them kind of just stopped and looked at it oddly for a moment.</p><p>"And that. Of course you want someone who wants to just throw down with you in the middle of a..." Buffy's forehead wrinkled up. "Is it a thunderstorm going on? They seriously look like there's a tornado happening behind them. What in the - Okay, I don't want some man kissing me on top of a car when we're about to be struck by lightening or sucked up into a tornado. I want someone with some damn sense in his beautiful head. But... rain, just rain... right. A guy who wants to make out with me in the rain... but also... a guy who will run out of the house with me to go frolic in a sudden downpour for no reason other than to do it. Or just dances with me in the rain. That could be my closing statement. I want a guy who will just grab my hand and dance with me in the rain."</p><p>"Now I really want you to call and say absolutely all of that," he told her and she broke out in a smile. It started slow but then it grew to a display of those pearly whites.</p><p>Buffy started to laugh and went to dig her phone out of her purse. She couldn't stop laughing as she dialed the number and waited. Hanging up she stuck her bottom lip out. "It's busy."</p><p>"Keep trying?"</p><p>She did about five more times before she declared she was giving up. "Maybe I am not destined to find love," she sighed, her hand dramatically laying across her forehead.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>The matchmakers' were replaced by a cleaning product next which didn't hold either of their interests long. He handed the remote over to Buffy and let her choose. She flipped through several more channels before settling on something, she put the remote down then slipped her shoes off and curled up in her little corner.</p><p>"Weren't you going out for dinner with that guy?"</p><p>Buffy looked up and nodded. "Yeah. Boring, huh?"</p><p>He chuckled. Knowing her, that sounded like an awful date plan when it came to this girl. "Did you eat is what I'm getting at."</p><p>"Oh. No. I ordered but left not long after that point. I'll find something before I go to bed."</p><p>"What sounds good?"</p><p>"Oh, no, Angel. I'm fine."</p><p>"Humor me woman. You are always doing shit for me and everyone else... I can make you a late night snack." She had this look on her face when he looked over his shoulder and he smirked. "You want an omelette, don't you?"</p><p>Her nose wrinkled up. "I really like 'em," she almost whined. He'd long since noticed. She ate more junk food and more eggs than anyone. "That's too much work, though. Really, I can do a sandwich or something."</p><p>He waved her off. He doubted she'd even be second guessing it - hell she'd probably be playfully sitting over there saying she was so hungry she was going to starve to death if he didn't make her one - if it hadn't been for this asshole tonight and whatever asshole she mentioned having dated before. There was nothing on this planet that made him happier than seeing this damn woman in her element, seeing her easily make friends with every person in a room, than seeing her smile. He couldn't understand anyone ever looking at it in a negative light or making her feel bad about it.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Buffy scarfed down he first plate and then his, so he made another for himself and she assured him he could keep it and that she was full now. "You don't have to do that," he told her when she got up and started cleaning up.</p><p>"I know," she told him and continued washing dishes and putting things back where they went once dried.</p><p>A top of the hour weather report came on and they both groaned. Not much had changed. Heat, sunshine, more heat.</p><p>Angel wouldn't let her touch his plate or fork, waving her off and telling her to go sit down. She didn't go until he threatened to pick her up and toss her back over on the couch. "You don't have to be all rude about it," she huffed.</p><p>"Obviously I do!"</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel didn't know when exactly she fell asleep, but it had to be in a short window as they kept launching off into various conversations around watching the movie she'd chosen. Getting up, he grabbed an extra pillow out of his closet and a thin blanket and brought it over. He carefully lifted her head so he could scoot the pillow under her and rearranged her a little to where she looked more comfortable before putting the blanket on her.</p><p>He brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. She mumbled his name and snuggled her nose closer to the pillow and he had never stilled so quick in his life. He watched her for another few moments before turning the TV off.</p><p>He used the restroom, brushed his teeth, washed his face and glanced at her once more before climbing up his ladder to his bed.</p><p>Angel laid there in the silence, staring up at the ceiling for a long while. He wondered if he should have blurted out his feelings to her earlier, if it was the right call just not making anything of it. He thought more about the idiot guy she'd attempted to have dinner with. He thought about those perfect, one hundred percent Buffy smiles she would get on her face that made his entire body warm and his heart want to explode. He laid there thinking about how badly he wanted her laying next to him rather than down there.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>He was in a half daze when he started waking up, his brain searching for why. It didn't feel like he had been asleep for a full nights' rest. He groaned a little, rubbing his eyes and blinking a few times before it settled on him. He sat up and pushed the curtain to the side a little of his tiny window up there where he slept.</p><p>It was still very much dark outside and looking at his phone he knew it had only been a couple of hours since coming up here. He rubbed a hand down his face and pulled up his weather app, not seeing a word about the little rainstorm happening out of nowhere showing up on it. He looked over the little edge of his "bedroom" and saw Buffy still sound asleep on the couch. He'd left the light above his kitchen sink on low in case she woke up and didn't know where she was at first or wanted to move around without worrying so much about bumping into things.</p><p>Climbing down the ladder just a few moments later, he quietly walked over to where she laid sleeping and shook her shoulders gently. "Buffy," he called out. Once, then twice before her eyelashes fluttered.</p><p>"Angel?" she yawned. "I guess I feel asleep? Mmm, well a sleepover sounds better than my other options," she grumbled, still trying to wake up.</p><p>"Listen," he told her once she started to sit up.</p><p>She went from sleepy to excited real quick, throwing the blanket to the side and jumping up. She grabbed his hand and sprung into action.</p><p>It wasn't a hard rain, just a nice sprinkle but it felt like heaven with the heat wave that'd been going on. Buffy stood out in the yard, her face turned toward the full moon, just enjoying it. Angel stood in the doorway to the loft, his arms folded and one foot crossed over the other as he watched her wonderment.</p><p>It picked up just a little and she squeezed her eyes tight and laughed, starting to spin around. "If you don't get out here, we might just fight," she called out.</p><p>Angel smirked, taking her in a moment more before walking away from the loft, off the step of the little walkway connecting the two houses and into the yard.</p><p>"Summer showers are so much more fun at night," she breathed. "With the moon and the stars. It's so peaceful."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Buffy was jumping in and out of puddles when she got one of those looks on her face that only she could pull off. It was almost like she was moving in slow motion, her hair bouncing counter active to the rest of her, laughter filling the otherwise quiet night air, and God help him, those entirely Buffy smiles that made everything in the world seem right as long as she looked like that.</p><p>Before he could stop to think whether or not this was a good idea, his arm reached out to grab her when she jumped back up on level ground and pulled her to him.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel wasn't sure how long he had danced slowly with the beautiful blonde under the night sky, but it felt like forever and simply not long enough all at the same time. The rain was still falling down, but only just so, and in light spurts. His hair was wet, hers more so and it was curling slightly at the ends in a handful of spots. The smell of vanilla mixed with the wet grass, fogginess around them. Her dress was wet, droplets of water splattered on her nose, on her shoulders; on his as well, down his back, he could feel a fat trail rolling down his chest as well... pooling up a bit where their bodies brushed together.</p><p>Something in the universe felt to shift when her head tilted up, the look on her face like she could read his every thought. He could feel her tense up just for a moment but then the corner of her lips turned upward. Her small hands squeezed the back of his neck and used him as leverage to lift up slightly, bringing her lips up to meet his.</p><p>Angel's hands slid from her waist to grab her ass, lifting her up, never breaking contact between their fused mouths. He felt her smile brighter and warmth spread throughout his entire body. Somehow this felt like the most natural thing in the world.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Buffy tasted like vanilla and like sugar, just as he'd imagined. Her lips, her throat, her neck... every inch of her he'd tasted so far was sweet and smooth and he couldn't get enough. Her hips moved in a circle and she made the sexiest sound he had ever heard in his life as she rubbed against his growing erection.</p><p>Tugging on his hair, she led his lips back to her own and rolled her hips once more before her legs unlocked from around his waist and she was back on the wet ground in front of him. Her hand tangled up with his and she turned, pulling him behind her as she'd done countless times before.</p><p>But, tonight was different.</p><p>Tonight, she looked over her shoulder, her eyes twinkling in a new light. Tonight, even her fingers lightly holding onto his felt like it could set him ablaze.</p><p>Buffy led him out of the yard, back up the step, onto the walkway and right back to his apartment. She spun easily on her tip toes to face him once inside, her arms returning to their former place around his neck. Her first kiss was playful but the intent grew heavier by the second. Together, they moved backwards against the heavy red door until it closed behind his back. When she locked it, any doubt he had about what was going to happen tonight disappeared right then and there.</p><p>Her slender fingertips fell from the golden deadbolt to the top of his hip, her fingernail tracing the top of his shorts as their lingering kiss ended and they broke apart for air. She gave him a look as though she was asking permission and he sure and the hell hoped the one he returned conveyed how impossibly he was okay with whatever in the world she wanted. Right now, tomorrow, whenever...</p><p>His shorts and boxers were moved lower and lower, her body sinking closer to the ground along with them. He'd almost whacked her in the face when his dick was finally free, popping out into the air and begging to be touched.</p><p>He didn't have to wait long for that, her hand reaching him first, testing out how he felt against her fingertips. They danced lightly up his length, swirled around his angry head, then she enclosed her palm the best she could around him. His hips jerked toward her, enjoying the sensation. He closed his hands into fists as she explored. Her hand swirled, pumped, she used lighter touches then put more pressure into it, always looking at him to gauge his reaction.</p><p>Once more, she managed to have a look of innocence and playfulness as she worked him and it nearly drove him mad.</p><p>Her fingertip swirled around the tip of his penis once more and she leaned her body closer to him. The second her tongue met his shaft, he was ready to explode. She playfully licked her way up to the tip, nearly following the same path her fingers did the first time. She looked up under those hooded eyelashes and he had to closed his eyes before he truly did lose it.</p><p>Buffy half-chuckled and even it was a fucking turn on.</p><p>She happily got acquainted with his dick, licking, gently nipping at him for a few moments more before taking him into her mouth. Her head bobbed, taking more of him each time.</p><p>She released him with a very wet sounding "pop" and his angry manhood bounced up and down a few times almost in protest.</p><p>Buffy was back in his arms, her legs circling his waist and he could feel the wetness seeping through her panties as he walked the short distance across the hard floor to the couch. The pillow he'd gotten for her earlier was pushed out of the way, falling down to the floor by his feet. Her knees bent at either side of him and he enjoyed the feel of her in his lap.</p><p>As their heavy make out session commenced, his hands unzipped the back of her dress. He eased the straps down and out of the way so it gathered around her stomach.</p><p>Somehow, she was even more perfect than he'd ever imagined. He'd had many fantasies about seeing what was underneath those bikini tops and not one of those conjured images compared to what was before him. Buffy led his hands to her and that only made his cock throb. Her body arched into his touch as he cupped the weight of her breasts in his hands, he lifted slightly and pushed them more together earning a moan for the beautiful blonde.</p><p>Angel got lost in her. His thumbs couldn't get enough of rubbing over her nipples time and again, how it would make her shiver every single time. He tasted her, sucking on the pink little mountain tops and making her squirm in his lap.</p><p>He didn't stop until he felt her hand wrap around behind her, grabbing him once more. Everything seemed to stop and that was all he could focus on. She pumped him once, twice, three times and he groaned loudly. She gracefully pulled herself out of his lap next, off the couch and stood, her dress falling to the floor by the discarded pillow.</p><p>Her panties were removed and she stood entirely bare and all he could do was stare for several moments. She almost blushed from the attention and he couldn't help but want to kiss her again.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Buffy climbed up to the "bedroom" first, he found her bare, laying on her stomach when he reached the top. His eyes trailed down her backside... her loved the side boob view she gave from the position, loved her tan skin, the slope of her spine. Her bare ass, her legs begging to be touched, one up in the air and the other laying flat against the sheet.</p><p>Climbing up a ladder and making your way to a comfortable position in such a tiny space was surely not the most attractive thing in the world but you wouldn't think such tonight. He got in the small bed beside her and briefly wondered if this would be comfortable enough. There was literally just a top mattress on the carpeted ground up here.</p><p>Buffy tucked her hair behind her ear, her earrings making a small sound as they clanged against each other from the movement. He said her name as though it was a swear word as she sat up, swung her leg over and mounted him slowly. Her face was a mixture of amusement and desire as she stretched, lowering onto him until he was fully seated inside her core. Her head fell back as she used her hips to start lifting back up and then down again she came.</p><p>As her speed increased, he happily watched her breasts bounce along with her movements. Leaving the flesh of those perfect hips, they went to her creamy mounds again. As soon as his thumbs met her nipples, she leaned forward and her clit found the perfect angle to rub against him as she rode.</p><p>One hand flew up to the wall and the other clawed at his chest as she got closer. He squeezed her breasts, his thumbs brushing over her sensitive nipples with reckless abandon. It made her twitch and squirm as she bounced harder and harder on his pole. "Oh, God," Buffy moaned. "Please."</p><p>His hips moved on their own, thrusting up to match her.</p><p>She clenched around him so hard that it damn near hurt, she jerked up then down and up again, her arms and legs trembling when his hot sperm shot up into her.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Still breathing heavily, Buffy waved a hand in her face trying to cool down. "Why in the hell was that not on the list of things we could do together?"</p><p>He half laugh, half panted.</p><p>"Holy shit," she laughed.</p><p>"Trust me," he swallowed. "That has been something I've wanted to do with you for some time now," he told her. He closed his eyes and tried to suck up air into his lungs.</p><p>Buffy's head turned toward him, he could feel her eyes on him. "Really?" she questioned.</p><p>"Yeah," he breathed out.</p><p>"Huh," she said then for several moments all you heard was their combined heaving breathing.</p><p>When he opened his eyes again he dared look over at her and damn near felt his cock harden again. That fucking look was going to be the end of him. Now more than ever as he was forever going to tie it tonight. "Is it really that surprising?" he had to ask.</p><p>"Well, yeah," she answered. "I've been saying for months, hell almost since we even met, that there was no way you'd like me... like that. I've been trying to be okay with the fact that we're just friends and that was going to be okay."</p><p>It was his turn to be surprised at that. "Easter," he finally breathed out, still struggling but it was getting easier. He thought about opening the window at the other side of the "room" but that was still too much work.</p><p>"Easter? Easter what?"</p><p>He'd told Jenny but never thought he'd really be telling her. "On Easter, you stood outside. You were dressed as a bunny."</p><p>"Uh huh..."</p><p>"You never looked happier, except maybe with Christmas and the whole carriage ride thing. But, you just... you were there and then you were so amused too over the bunny tail and... it was sexy and hot but more than that... it was fucking adorable," he told her. "I had a crazy thought of wanting to grab you and kiss you and tell you that you were fucking adorable. And it... it did not go away."</p><p>"Are you sure it wasn't just the bunny thing? Maybe ears and fluffy white tails are a new kink of yours."</p><p>He laughed. "If only it was that simple," he joked. Turning over he looked at her. She looked so soft, angelic laying there. "You get this fucking look on your face that drives me crazy," he whispered, more serious now. "All I want is to see you smile like that, carefree, happy to the fullest. It makes everything in the world right again. All I wanted to do was see you smile, hell to make you smile. I kept doing anything possible to even be the reason - at least part of the reason - as to why you would."</p><p>One hand came up to her mouth, covering it. He reached over and took it back away, holding it with his own.</p><p>"Don't do that," he whispered and kissed her knuckles.</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>"Are you wearing my tee shirt and boxers?" he asked as she climbed back up the ladder.</p><p>Buffy scooted back onto the bed, into his arms. He pulled the light blanket over both of their entangled bodies. "Yes. My underwear is soaking wet - and not from the rain. That's not exactly the most comfortable feeling all the time."</p><p>He smirked. He had no regrets over that situation. He didn't mind her donning his shirt one bit either, though he'd prefer her with nothing else underneath. "I went to bed earlier looking down at you, wishing you were beside me," he told her quietly.</p><p>"If I hadn't already been passed out I probably would have been having similar thoughts."</p><p>He pulled her flush against him, her dick snuggling between the warm slit between her ass cheeks. She purposefully rubbed back against him for a moment. He could imagine how much trouble he was going to be in with this woman from here on out. She already had enough of a time teasing him relentlessly as friends on everything.</p><p>"Will you be with me?" He suddenly wanted to ask her out on a date but the words got jumbled as they flew out of his face.</p><p>She was silent for a moment which made him nervous. "Like... your girlfriend?"</p><p>"Yes," he said quickly.</p><p>"You have a wife."</p><p>"An estranged wife. A without a doubt will be my ex wife as soon as fucking possible whore of a 'wife'." He didn't mentioned how he suddenly had the feeling of calling his lawyer and telling him the absolute least amount he'd settle on and to just quit fighting her, let her win, let her just about everything just to be done with her. Just so he could focus on the future. He figured that might be too much too soon for Buffy to actually hear, though. "I want you," he whispered after she was silent again.</p><p>"Okay."</p><p>"Yeah?"</p><p>"Yeah. As long as you're up for it."</p><p>He smiled. "Oh, pillow fights, dancing in the rain, watching your ridiculous medical dramas and listening to you go on and on about your favorite fictional couples and..."</p><p>She laughed. "Yes. All of that."</p><p>"I've never wanted anything more."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel couldn't help but feel a little nervous when morning came. He woke up to knocking on his door and slipped over Buffy to get to the ladder and climb down. "Hey. Jen."</p><p>"Hey. I was just checking on you. It was getting kind of late and you weren't answering your phone."</p><p>"Sorry. Hadn't even heard it... alarm, calls..." And that was true. He'd been dead to the damn world. He didn't even know what time it was now.</p><p>"Buffy wasn't in here room either. And she's not answering her phone either."</p><p>He swallowed. "She's... Buffy's.. she's here."</p><p>"She's not in here room..."</p><p>"She's in here," he said.</p><p>"Angel? Where'd you go. Why aren't you in bed?" Buffy's groggy voice was heard in the background. She must have woken up.</p><p>Jenny looked confused then it hit her, her eyes widening. "Ooooh," was all she could say.</p><p>"Yeah..."</p><p>"Okay." She held her hands up in front of her. "Well. I know that you are both alright then. Food is done. Come over whenever you... you're ready, okay?"</p><p>"Yep. Thanks, Jen."</p><p>"Mmhmm."</p><p>He watched her turn and walk back toward the house and saw a glimpse of Rupert in the kitchen. He smiled and nodded at him before slipping back inside. Buffy peered down from the bed. "Hey there."</p><p>She was so beautiful in the morning. He thought about how he'd rather see her just like this any day compared to dressed to the nines. "Hi. Good morning. Jenny said they were looking for us."</p><p>"And we were found?"</p><p>"Yeah. By Jenny anyway, I don't know if she's over there telling your dad or not."</p><p>"Mmm."</p><p>OoOoO</p><p>Angel went next door first, he greeted Rupert and Jenny handed him his plate so he went and sat down at the table. A few minutes later, Buffy walked in.</p><p>They had taken a quick shower together, both of their hair remained a little damp. He'd gotten changed but she strolled over from his door to theirs in literally just the same black shirt and red boxers as she'd slept in. She grabbed a fork and took a quick bite, walked over and kissed him and then said she needed to find some clothes. She disappeared into "her" room. Jenny almost broke out into laughter, Rupert took his glasses off and began cleaning them once the pieces all fell into place.</p><p>Life was certainly about to get a lot more interesting.</p><p>The End.</p>
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